BEA Systems may have rejected Oracle's initial offer of $6.7 billion, but that may not deter the software giant from continuing its pursuit.

Given Oracle's history of aggressively pursuing the companies it wants—most notably eventual acquisition of PeopleSoft in 2004 after months of sometimes bitter resistence—and the fact that top BEA investor Carl Icahn has been pushing BEA officials to sell, the idea of a more hostile takeover by Oracle is not far-fetched.

In addition, despite months of protests by BEA officials to the contrary, a sale to Oracle would make sense for the company, its shareholders and its customers, according to industry observers.