For a large vendor trying to catch up on a new technology trend, tapping its vast cash reserves to acquire a startup that already has an entry in the race is a lot more convenient than spending time building its own from scratch at the risk of falling further behind. The latest anecdote for that comes from Oracle Corp., which last week bought StackEngine Inc. for an undisclosed amount to get hold of its Docker management framework.

The aptly-named Container Application Center is described as an all-encompassing toolchain for handling implementations of the lightweight virtualization technology that covers every step of the workload lifecycle starting from the initial configuration. The software makes it possible to deploy a Dockerized service on practically any type of infrastructure, whether it’s on-premise hardware, a public cloud or some combination thereof, and provides a handy graphical interface for assembling the individual software components into the integrated whole. StackEngine says that the behavior of each element can be defined individually based on its specific requirements.

Administrators are able to set basic parameters such as resource usage caps and port mappings directly through the deployment tab, while more advanced operational aspects are handled in a second orchestration panel. Policies configured through the dashboard are executed by the startup’s internally-developed scheduling engine, which promises to provide the same level of automation as open-source alternatives like Google Inc.’s Kubernetes. It’s complemented by a similarly homegrown monitoring that provides all the usual auditing and troubleshooting features.

Oracle will incorporate the technology into its public cloud to try and increase its appeal to the growing number of enterprises joining the Docker bandwagon. The hardware-agnostic nature of Container Application Center should theoretically enable customers to launch projects on the database giant’s platform and move them behind the firewall once it’s time to go live without making any major changes. None of the company’s biggest rivals in the infrastructure-as-a-service  market currently offer such a capability, which should give its value proposition a much-needed edge once StackEngine’s software is fully assimilated.

No terms were disclosed for the team, but an SEC filing spotted by Business Insider revealed that Oracle shelled out $1.3 million to buy the stock options of the startup’s five workers. Coupled with the unpublished sum the company paid to acquire the stake of StackEngine’s outside backers, which invested $4.5 million since its foundation last year, that most likely values the transaction in the eight digits.

Image via Geralt