Oracle has entered into an agreement to acquire RightNow, a customer service software maker that’s used  by over 2,000 clients, according to the company. Its flagship offering is called RightNow CX, a cloud-based product designed to enhance online customer experience.  This will also put Oracle in a more competitive position against Salesforce.

Oracle is shelling out $43.00 per share, or  a total of  $1.5 billion, for the buy, a number that’s about 20 percent higher than RightNow’s Friday closing price of $35.96.  Shares of RightNow quickly caught up though, shooting up by more than 19 percent following the acquisition announcement.

“The Board of Directors of RightNow Technologies has unanimously approved the transaction. The transaction is expected to close by late 2011 or early 2012, subject to RightNow stockholder approval, certain regulatory approvals and customary closing conditions.”

Oracle continues to both “write code” — to integrate it’s disparate application assets (e.g. Oracle FusionApps)– and “write checks” to acquire companies like Endeca and RightNow.

“RightNow is a direct play against Salesforce.com, which increasingly is getting under Oracle’s skin,” says Dave Vellante, founder of Wikibon.  “Oracle is acquiring RightNow to gain access to a more cost effective CRM platform (than Siebel– which is viewed as higher end and more complex). RightNow allows Oracle to increase its presence in the SaaS market, particularly with small businesses where Oracle has been behind.”

It’s classic Oracle. Pay “short” money for a technology that is far less expensive than acquiring the leader, bundle it into the Oracle solution set and be a one-stop-shop for its clients.  Vellante goes on to point out some things clients should look out for:

“The thing clients need to be careful about is 1) it’s all oracle all the time and 2) Oracle’s integration (for all its software assets) takes a long time and is still limited – even with FusionApps. Oracle can’t integration as fast as it is buying companies so much of the integration burden falls on customers.”

There are several appealing aspects to the deal for Oracle beyond just the 2,000+ paying customers added to the mix, according to GigaOM’s Barb Darrow.  One is that RightNow will add a SMB CRM solution to Oracle’s existing portfolio, which currently only features high-end enterprise scale solutions based on technology from Siebel Systems.

Oracle is looking to do two things: compete with Salesforce and grow its cloud presence. The acquisition can help boost both of these goals directly.

It’s hardly been a week since Oracle’s acquisition of Endeca. Klint Finley looked into the deal, highlighting its importance for both companies and comparing it with HP’s acquisition of Autonomy: the company’s IP will likely be incorporated with Oracle’s own e-commerce and BI portfolio, in addition to its database line-up.