Microsoft is buying data warehouse appliance maker DATAllegro in its latest push in the enterprise business intelligence market.

The software giant made the announcement yesterday. Financial details are undisclosed. Microsoft will retain most of DATAllegro’s team as well as its headquarters in Viejo, California. It will continue to support the company’s current customers.

Bob Muglia, Microsoft’s server and tools biz senior veep, said at a financial analyst's meeting that DATAllegro will move on to the SQL Server and Windows Server platforms. He claimed that folding the database firm’s technology into Microsoft storage software would beef up hundreds of terabytes of data and “scale well beyond what Oracle can do today.”

Forrester analyst James Kobielus described the pending data-crunching deal as “a smart move for both vendors”.

In a post yesterday he said that Microsoft’s acquisition “sets the stage” for a period of rapid data warehousing consolidation. “Look for Oracle, SAP, and HP, in particular, to make strategic acquisitions of the sort that Microsoft has just announced,” he noted.

Microsoft aims to close the deal at the end of next month. Meanwhile, SQL Server 2008 – already postponed twice – could begin shipping soon. Release to manufacturing has been promised sometime during Microsoft’s third quarter, which finishes at the end of September. ®