Oracle seems to be on a shopping spree, making its third acquisition in a month and half. This time the company acquired InQuira, a provider of customer support solutions which it dubs “service knowledge management software.”  InQuira’s web-based platform supports both self service and agent-assisted services, and will be integrated with Oracle’s portfolio to become the “centerpiece” of the Oracle Fusion CRM Service.  Terms of the deal were not disclosed.

“The acquisition of InQuira provides Oracle with a complete knowledge management suite, integrated with self-service support, online customer forums and agent-assisted CRM,” said Anthony Lye, SVP of Oracle CRM.

InQuira is Oracle’s latest acquisition, followed closely by the Pillar Systems deal. Oracle chief executive Larry Ellison owns the majority stake (something that raised a few eyebrows in the blogosphere) in the San Jose company that makes SAN systems.

Last month, the company also acquired FatWire for an undisclosed sum. Originally a CMS developer, FatWire launched a cloud-based experience management offering last year that can be deployed on-premise as well as in private and hybrid clouds. Partners CapGemini, LBi, and Element 115 participated in the development process.

Another company that’s investing in the cloud is Acer. The electronics giant is looking to follow the lead of Hewlett-Packard and Dell, which have already expanded into this space, via the $320 million acquisition of iGware.  An additional performance-based payout of up to $75 million is also included in the deal.

iGware is a rather unknown service provider that powers 100 million users, and will help Acer launch its own cloud-based product next year, according to some sources.  This move won’t necessarily help the Taiwanese manufacturer be more competitive with its main competitors, but aims to increase overall margins – a goal HP and Dell have also been pursuing.