Informatica's Sweet Deal With SAP Doesn't Mean Merger

The original equipment manufacturer contract now makes Informatica a major supplier to both business software giants: SAP and Oracle.

"You can make an argument that either company or other large analytics or applications players" would be interested in buying up Informatica's integration capabilities, Yockelson says.

But with a market cap of $1.3 billion, Informatica would be a big fish to swallow.

Privately held Infor Global Solutions "fits the profile of a company that might be interested" in such an acquisition target, Yockelson says. Infor reportedly has more than 70,000 customers worldwide and revenue of more than $2 billion.

Shares of Informatica were recently off 9 cents to $15.07.

By embedding Informatica's software into its platforms, SAP does take a "manageable" risk that the vendor will be merged into a competitor, Yockelson says. Companies like SAP and Oracle often develop backup or "surrounding" applications, in case vendors ever "go away."

And Oracle is developing its own data integration capabilities, making it less likely to have an eye on Informatica, Yockelson says.

Indeed, Informatica could be viewing Oracle warily. While Oracle recently renewed its contract for Informatica's software, it also bought out data-integration supplier Sunopsis in October.

"Anytime Oracle comes into a market people worry," Olofson says.

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