Oracle says Siebel's budding business intelligence functionality is a "hidden jewel" within the database maker's planned acquisition of the customer relationship management firm. But it's hard to call analytics a "hidden" jewel when such BI functionality is the very thing Oracle most wants to add to its enterprise software and database systems."This is another area that's very strategic to us," Oracle president Charles Phillips told the crowd at Siebel Systems' recent CustomerWorld conference in Boston. He was talking about BI -- specifically, about providing faster views into customer-facing business processes.

Strategic? You bet it is. The big three database makers -- IBM, Microsoft and Oracle -- all want to improve the BI capabilities that are ready-built into their database platforms. There are some, in fact, who see BI functionality as the central competitive differentiator between database makers.

So no, Siebel Analytics isn't exactly a hidden jewel that Oracle will pull up out of the CRM vendor. It's more like a trophy in plain view, ready for the taking. And Oracle's on the take.

Meanwhile, our readers remain almost evenly split on whether they believe Oracle will incorporate Siebel analytics into its own platforms. But you can help break the tie by voting in our newest Business Intelligence Pipeline Voting Booth poll.