Competition Heats Up in ERP Market: Oracle Merger, and SAP and Microsoft Reacts
Olin Thompson and P.J. Jakovljevic - May 21, 2005

Competitive Response -- SAP

When the definitive merger agreement between PeopleSoft and Oracle, the respective number two and three business applications providers in the market, was signed in December, the enterprise market shifted, if not rumbled. Customers in particular were somewhat bemused, not to mention mildly concerned about what this meant for them. To appease its newly acquired and existing customer base, Oracle affirmed its commitments, although its product roadmap did not include active marketing of PeopleSoft and J.D. Edwards product lines. The vendor will, however, continue to market them to the installed base, and will attend user conferences, run campaigns, and conduct public and analyst relations. Because these products are being seen, by some, as dead ends (at least in the long run), many competitors have been scrambling to offer all sorts of incentives to entice disconcerted, existing PeopleSoft and Oracle customers to switch. In this regard, at least, Oracle can feel vindicated that its claim, made during the antitrust trial, that the merger would increase competition has proven true...