Renee Boucher Ferguson

Oracle is forging a new path with partners in its applications business—a real cultural shift for the company—and its a direct result of two initiatives: Oracles acquisition strategy thats brought in dozens, if not hundreds, of new applications to its portfolio; and a new Application Integration Architecture that helps partners better connect their customers applications, […]

SAP reported its first quarter 2007 earnings April 20, highlighting a jump in profits. Net income for the quarter was $413 million, up from $282 million a year ago, and total revenue jumped 6 percent to $295 billion, in what turns out to be an auspicious start following a tumultuous period for the giant software […]

LAS VEGAS—Charles Phillips, Oracles co-president, talked about promises—ones made last year and new ones announced this year. Phillips, during his April 16 keynote address here at the annual Oracle Application User Group conference, discussed Applications Unlimited, a promise Oracle made last year at OAUG to support PeopleSoft, JD Edwards and Siebel applications, which Oracle had […]

Oracle is developing a new service-oriented architecture strategy that could overtake the momentum around its Fusion Applications initiative, according to sources close to the company. In his keynote address April 16 at the annual Oracle Applications Users Group conference in Las Vegas, Oracle Co-President Charles Phillips is expected to announce a composite application strategy, code-named […]

Oracles customer relationship management applications are now available on BlackBerry smart phones from Research in Motion. Oracle announced April 12 its namesake Siebel Wireless support for RIMs smart phones. With Siebel Wireless on the BlackBerry platform, mobile workers will have access to real-time CRM data, officials said. In addition to having access to corporate e-mail […]

Oracle is developing a new service-oriented architecture strategy that could overtake the momentum around its Fusion Applications initiative, according to sources close to the company. In his keynote address April 16 at the annual Oracle Applications Users Group conference in Las Vegas, Oracle Co-president Charles Phillips is expected to announce a composite application strategy, code-named […]

The last time Salesforce.com acquired a company—Kieden, in August—it created a new category within its hosted services business to help users manage Google advertisements. With another quiet acquisition at the end of March of content collaboration software developer Koral, Salesforce.com looks to be setting a trend. With the purchase of the tiny nine-person San Mateo, […]

A small startup, Adaptive Planning, has taken the next step in offering alternative application technology by combining on demand and open source to build business intelligence-based performance management software. The question is, now that the company has built it, will users come? The goal for Adaptive Planning is to “dramatically expand” its base of users […]

Shai Agassi, once seen as a front-runner to replace Henning Kagermann as CEO of SAP, resigned from the software maker March 28, setting off an executive shake-up at the company. Agassi, president of SAPs product and technology group, is leaving SAP to tackle climate and global energy issues, according to SAP Chairman Hasso Plattner. Plattner […]

Infor, a company thats built itself into the worlds third largest enterprise resource planning software company through acquisitions, announced April 2 that it has acquired another company: Workbrain. Under the terms of the deal, Infor will acquire all of Workbrains outstanding shares at a price of $12.50 per share, or about $227 million. The transaction […]

Adriel Lares has a lot to think about. Since joining 3PARdata in 2001, he has led the companys treasury, debt and financing activities, including equity rounds for $32 million and $30 million last year. At the same time, the company is growing fast, creating metrics and processes Lares needs to keep on top of. As […]

The U.S. Department of Homeland Security agreed to a pilot program with Washington state that could offer an alternative to the requirement that all U.S. citizens traveling between the United States and Canada (and other Western Hemisphere territories) present a valid passport—some of which will be the new RFID-chipped ePassport. But the pilot program will […]