SAP's Big Bankroll

Consider Redwood City, Calif.-based Questra, the first company to win the support of SAP's NetWeaver Fund. Its software can be installed on "intelligent devices" -- complex equipment controlled by embedded microprocessors.

Once installed, technicians can monitor the performance of it from the factory and find -- and sometimes correct -- malfunctions before the customer is even aware of the problem.

In the future, says Questra CEO Emil Wang, his company's application will exchange information with SAP's industrial-strength enterprise-resource-management applications to locate parts, or schematics or other information now kept in separate data stores.

SAP's plan is not new. Sun Microsystems(SUNW Quote), for example, had success in the 1990s using a similar fund to seed the development of Java, a now-ubiquitous programming language.

Additionally, Intel's(INTC Quote) venture arm, Intel Capital, closed 2005 with a balance of $1 billion, money used to develop the market through investments in firms that are developing related technology.

For its part, IBM acquired two software companies in August, both developers of SOA-related products -- MRO Software(MROI Quote) for $740 million in cash, or $25.80 a share, and privately held Webify Solutions.

Oracle's major SOA effort is within Fusion Middleware, a rapidly growing segment of its portfolio. The database giant claims its middleware business grossed $1 billion in fiscal 2006, although there is some dispute about that number. In any case, Oracle is dead serious about middleware in general -- SOA in particular.