Enterprise software giant Oraclesaid Monday that it is buying Dyn, a provider of services critical to keeping websites accessible. Terms of the deal were not disclosed.
Dyn, based in Manchester, N.H., maintains a domain name system, which basically acts as a directory to websites. These so-called DNS services map what we know as domain names, such as Oracle.com, to the more obscure numbered servers that actually run that site.
As the Oracle (ORCL) press release put it: Dyn “monitors, controls, and optimizes Internet applications and cloud services to deliver faster access, reduced page load times, and higher end-user satisfaction.”
Dyn claims about 3,500 enterprise customers including such heavy hitters as Netflix (NFLX), Twitter (TWTR), Pfizer (PFE) and CNBC. The company had raised about $88 million in funding from investors including Pamplona Capital Management and North Bridge Venture Partners.
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The addition of Dyn’s services to Oracle’s cloud computing portfolio will give large customers a “one-stop-shop,” Oracle said.
Tech consultant MSV Janakiram said this deal is worth noting. “Oracle essentially got the most essential building block for its Infrastructure as a Service in the form of DNS, load balancing, content delivery and monitoring,” he said via email. “This would instantly increase Oracle’s credibility in cloud infrastructure.”
To be clear, Dyn’s managed CDN service actually helps customers use multiple content delivery networks, it is not a CDN in its own right.
Infrastructure-as-a-Service (aka IaaS) is the term used to describe computer servers, storage, and networking available for rent to customers, as exemplified by market leader Amazon (AMZN) Web Services (AWS).
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Amazon and Google (GOOG) field their own DNS systems, and Dyn also competes with companies like Riverbed (RVBD) and F5 Networks (FFIV) in some aspects of its business.
If the name “Dyn” is familiar, it’ s probably not for a reason Dyn (or Oracle) would like. A massive Internet snafu a few weeks back that impacted Twitter, and some of the other aforementioned corporate customers, was linked to a massive distributed of denial service attack that overwhelmed Dyn’s services. Credit where due, the scope of the attack was massive, but Dyn recovered within a few hours.
One big takeaway from that incident was that corporate customers should use more than one DNS provider, a strategy discussed at the recent Structure show.
Oracle and its co-founder and executive chairman Larry Ellison is nothing if not acquisitive. Oracle just closed its $9.3 billion acquisition of NetSuite a few weeks ago.
Note: This story was updated to add information about Dyn’s funding and to clarify Dyn’s CDN strategy.