Oracle and SAP News

The day’s news covers the lawsuit between Oracle and SAP, the arrival of Oracle® Utilities Mobile Workforce Management 1.5, a JD Edwards implementation at Well Site International Services (India), SAP still reeling from the delay of Business ByDesign, and Imperva becomes a member of the SAP-led Global Security Alliance.

Oracle first, the lawsuit between Oracle and SAP does not look like ending any time soon. SAP has ruled out any out-of-court settlement. Oracle had filed a case against SAP subsidiary TomorrowNow in 2007 accusing it of “systematic, illegal access to-and taking from-Oracle’s computerized customer support systems”. A great article on SAP’s TomorrowNow saga here. Here is a PDF copy of Oracle’s amended complaint in which it states that SAP employees at the executive level both in the US and Germany were aware of TomorrowNow’s underhand conduct but chose to keep quiet. The document also carries counter allegations by SAP.

Oracle has announced that the Oracle® Utilities Mobile Workforce Management 1.5 is now available. The utility allows users to leverage Oracle database as well as the Oracle Fusion Middleware; it consists of industry-specific applications. Enhancements include greater automation of previously manual processes. Since Oracle Utilities Mobile Workforce Management 1.5 is integrated with Oracle Fusion Middleware MapViewer, it offers spatial information such as map data. Work order management is smoother because of integration with the Network Management System. The utility works on the Windows platform. Oracle’s page on its utility offerings.

SYSTIME has completed an end-to-end implementation of Oracle’s JD Edwards EnterpriseOne for Well Site International Services (India) Pvt. Ltd. SYSTTIME is one of the leading implementation vendors in India with expertise in managing JD Edwards applications. It is also a part of the Oracle PartnerNetwork. Well Site India is a subsidiary of WSI Services Inc., which is in the business of providing equipment to oil and gas companies all over the world.

Moving on to SAP, a good piece analyzing SAP’s disappointing state of affairs vis-à-vis its SaaS offering for SMBs – Business ByDesign. Apparently, poor initial sales of Business ByDesign led to an 18% fall in SAP profits, if the company GAAP figures for the US are to be believed.

Imperva, a provider of application data security, has become a part of the Global Security Alliance. The alliance is a platform led by SAP and it aims to increase the exchange of information on security and risk management. The Imperva SecureSphere 6.0 has obtained the coveted SAP® Certified Integration. Imperva SecureSphere 6.0 protects SAP solutions by providing fine-grained activity monitoring and audits for SAP applications.

SAP news from Israel. In Israel, the company has decided to change the distribution channel for its new acquisition the business intelligence (BI) software of Business Objects. This is contrast to its statement that it would not change distribution channels for one year when it acquired Business Objects earlier this year. SAP will distribute the SME version through its SAP Business One partners.

In the U.K, Royal Mail is on target to save £300m over three years by generating efficiencies that were possible with the implementation of a SAP-based procurement transformation program. The hosted e-sourcing application consists of the SAP supplier relationship management (SRM) software and its E-Procurement module.

Another customer for SAP and one that augurs well for the company’s future in the competitive insurance market. ICW has selected SAP’s insurance applications for managing and organizing the multitude of disparate systems present in the company. SAP will implement its ERP Financials solutions, collections and disbursement application, and claims management application. ICW is an SMB and just the type of company that SAP needs to target if it has to reach its goal of 100,000 customers by 2010.

SAP has announced that it is offering a comprehensive suite featuring service-oriented architecture (SOA) technologies, ready-to-run services and comprehensive support offerings. SAP’s offering covers the entire lifecycle of SOA projects and will help businesses achieve faster network transformation with its end-to-end professional services and custom development. IBM, by the way, is the undisputed market leader as far as SOA is concerned.

SAP registered a 22% revenue growth in Africa last year and has ambitious plans for reaching out to the SMBs in the continent. However, it finds itself hampered by the poor internet infrastructure in Africa. SAP hopes that in future it will be able to offer its Business ByDesign product to African companies via the SaaS route.

A neat piece by Phil Wainwright that analyzes the delay behind the SAP Business ByDesign software as a service suite.

Moving on to Oracle, along with Microsoft and IBM, Oracle is a main contender for the purchase of Zend, should the company be up for sale. Zend is open source and the leader in developing PHP applications. The recent layoffs at Zend have fueled speculations that the company may be up for sale.

The Gartner Magic Quadrant is an annual industry guideline for companies looking to buy, upgrade, or replace existing solutions. Oracle E-Business Suite and Oracle’s Siebel Field Service have been included in this year’s Gartner Magic Quadrant for Field Service Management, 2008. Siebel Field Service has the distinction of being positioned in the Leaders Quadrant.

A lawsuit has been filed by the Beijing Jiahua Chuangxin Technology Co., Ltd against Oracle China over intellectual property rights protection in China. BJCTCL is a distributor for Oracle China.

Noetix Corp has introduced the Noetix Generator for Oracle Business Intelligence Suite Enterprise Edition. The product creates Oracle Business Intelligence Server metadata so that users can access Oracle E-Business Suite and PeopleSoft Enterprise data faster and also be able to generate custom reports.

Oracle has stated that it will spend a whopping $285 million for building what it terms a “Global Information Technology facility”. It will be located in West Jordan, in Utah. The facility should generate around a 100 new jobs in the area. And get this; the wages will be more than 200% of the Salt Lake County average!! The Utah government has done its bit by offering a $ 15 million tax incentive package to Oracle. Ostensibly, the center will focus on supporting Oracle’s on-demand segment. Oracle has not come out very clearly on what exactly the facility is about. Maybe, it’s just a huge data center. The facility, expected to go live in 2010, will cover around 200,000 sq. ft.

In India, Oracle has been selected by the Punjab State Co-operative Bank (PSCB) and 19 District central co-operative banks that will deploy FLEXCUBE, which is powered by Oracle Database and Oracle Real Application Clusters. The deployment will be overseen by Flexcel International, formerly i-flex.

Still in Asia, AwalNet which is one of the biggest ISPs in Saudi Arabia has selected Oracle® Applications to improve customer service and reduce operational costs.

An interesting alliance between Luciad, a Belgian company that provides geospatial information software, and Oracle. The LuciadMap Version 8.0 makes use of the Oracle Spatial 11g which gives it support for vector data and GeoRaster objects.

Yesterday, Oracle introduced the Oracle Utilities Customer Care and Billing 2.2. The product offers customer lifecycle management and covers service connection, meter management, complex billing, and payment processing and debt collection. It also offers contact center management.

Welcome relief for Oracle, it has one lawsuit less to worry about. I guess lawsuits are occupational hazards for giants like Oracle. The appeal in question is one raised by Mangosoft Inc for patent infringement claims. Mangosoft is also pursuing similar claims against eBay and Skype as well. The U.S. Court of Appeals rejected Mangosoft’s claims against Oracle on May 14.

Oracle is looking to strengthen its position in the insurance industry by purchasing AdminServer, which provides insurance policy administration software. Oracle’s existing insurance industry related products include Oracle Billing, Siebel Claims and Siebel CRM for Insurance.

An exhaustive article here on how Oracle is successfully helping its channel partners through its Oracle Partner Network (OPN). Membership fee is $ 1995 per annum and it allows network members to access Oracle’s premier products, education, technical services, marketing, and sales support. Oracle has over 19,500 companies using its software for developing solutions. The OPN is a great place to learn and pick up survival information for doing well in the global business arena.

Across the pond, Mortgage and savings specialist Bradford & Bingley, which has more than 3,000 staff spread all over the United Kingdom, has implemented an Oracle staff management system to streamline HR processes.

Moving on to SAP, the company has stated that it is looking to boost revenues from government deals. SAP AG is trying for a 20% increase from government contracts. The major clients for Business Objects SA are from the public sector and the company hopes to send out positive signals to its buyers who may just be feeling a little jittery about SAP’s acquisition of Business Objects.

A little more distress for SAP. The company found itself fending off awkward questions regarding its commitment to SaaS and dodged potshots from Salesforce.com. SAP reiterated that it is not going to reduce its investments in its existing SaaS endeavors. SAP will continue with its plans of rolling out Business ByDesign in the following six nations - Germany, the UK, France, the US, China and India.

Again, a matter of concern for the company. Apparently, the company feels that there is a shortage of as many as 40,000 skilled people in order to implement SAP solutions globally. SAP is looking to fill the gap with university- and third-party alliances.

A positive development for SAP. Wipro Technologies has agreed to initiate a new Solutions Lab in order to promote industry best practices and templates on SAP’s business process platforms.

Again, a matter of concern for the company. Apparently, the company feels that there is a shortage of as many as 40,000 skilled people in order to implement SAP solutions globally. SAP is looking to fill the gap with university- and third-party alliances.

Although SAP has been left behind in the SaaS race and its Business ByDesign rollout has been delayed by more than a year; the company is undeterred and has announced new CRM functionality in its Business All-in-One solution targeted at the SMB segment. The solution is however on-premise built on SAP NetWeaver.

SAP’s iPhone project has stalled because SAP is not very happy with what it terms the “culture of secrecy” at Apple. The project was announced earlier this year and involved development of business software by SAP for the iPhone. SAP has an issue with the iPhone security features and its enterprise email infrastructure capability. A nice piece on Macworld about how RIM president Lazaridis views the iPhone.