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The bid by Oracle (ORCL) for BEA Systems (BEAS) has set off a lot of chatter on what the reasoning behind it may be, and if it has much real value for Oracle.

BEA Systems is a company specializing in software called "middleware," which is used to integrate various data and applications in a business together.

The offer of $17 dollars a share in a straight cash deal, is a 25 percent premium over Thursday's closing price. BEA responded by saying the offer was too low.

BEA says the stock value is down because of regulatory filings in an investigation into stock-options issues. They assert it should be taken care of soon.

Responses by various analysts and industry insiders say it could become a bidding war, which may include IBM (IBM), Hewlett-Packard (HPQ) and direct competitor SAP AG, among possible others.

Another possible scenario would be only a direct battle with SAP AG, which recently acquired "Business Objects" of France.

Global Equities Research analyst Trip Chowdhry believes SAP AG must bid and win the BEA Systems battle, or they may be up for sale in a couple of years.

"In the next couple of years if BEA is not part of SAP, probably SAP is on the block itself," said Chowdhry. He added that a bidding war could bring the price as high as $21 a share.

Ian Finley, an analyst for AMR Research isn't too impressed with Oracle's bid for BEA Systems, saying it wouldn't do much more than add an "incremental benefit" to the already healthy middleware business Oracle is in. That's another way of saying they're probably buying it as a defensive move so another company won't get it.

Finley concluded: "It's hard to imagine why they'd spend that much money for an incremental benefit ... unless there was competition. It seems like this was a preemptive strike to prevent someone else from buying BEA."

The only other reason for the Oracle bid would be the existing integration between Oracle's technology and BEA's. Oracle CEO Larry Ellison probably wouldn't allow SAP AG to buy BEA out from under them.

In an aside to all this, activist investor Carl Icahn recently disclosed he had bought an 8.5 percent stake in BEA recently, and has added to that stake, bringing the total to 13.2 percent. He obviously saw the growing interest in BEA and moved quickly before offers were made. He'll make a fortune on this; and already has, as the stock price of BEA has already surged on the news.