LOS ANGELES, Oct. 12 (Xinhua) -- U.S. business software giant Oracle on Friday made an aggressive step to dominate the market of Internet operation software by announcing an unsolicited bid to buy rival BEA Systems for about 6.7 billion U.S. dollars.

    It would be the Silicon Valley company's largest acquisition effort since 2004 when it bought PeopleSoft for 10.3 billion dollars.

    Oracle is offering to buy BEA for 17 dollars a share -- 25 percent more than Thursday's closing stock price.

    The new bid for BEA Systems is seen by many industry analysts as Oracle's attempt to pre-empt a potential acquisition by others, including big names like IBM, SAP and Hewlett-Packard.

    If completed, the acquisition would add to Oracle's goal of competing with IBM and SAP in offering software that integrates computer servers and databases with applications on the Internet, or middleware.

    Charles Phillips, president of Oracle, said in a statement Friday that the proposal "is the culmination of repeated conversations with BEA's management over the last several years."

    He said the acquisition would accelerate Oracle's development of a "world-class suite of middleware," as the company has been trying to catch up with competitors in the lucrative business software market.

    BEA Systems, a California-base business software and service company, has been courted by Oracle for years. It recently came under pressure to find a buyer from some of its shareholders.