Renee Boucher Ferguson

The European Commission is holding open its investigation of Oracle Corp.s $7.7 billion hostile bid for enterprise applications rival PeopleSoft Inc. A decision on whether the body will seek to block the deal based on its impact on competition in Europe isnt expected until after a U.S. court decides if it will grant the Department […]

To better enable design reuse and collaboration, product lifecycle management software developer MatrixOne announced over the weekend its acquisition of Synchronicity for $18 million in stock and cash. Synchronicity Software Inc., of Marlborough, Mass., develops software that enables semiconductor manufacturers to reuse intellectual property—in other words, the design content, test features and documentation that form […]

Its not just about Oracle Corp. and PeopleSoft Inc. anymore. During Oracles trial with the U.S Department of Justice to defend its hostile, $7.7 billion takeover bid for PeopleSoft, Oracle is expected to disclose merger talks between rivals SAP AG and Microsoft Corp., according to a statement released today by Microsoft. The trial starts today […]

Almost a year to the day after Oracle Corp. made its hostile bid to acquire rival PeopleSoft Inc. and consolidate the second- and third-largest enterprise application companies, the saga is moving into what likely will be its final stage. Like any good melodrama, the will wind up in a courtroom as the U.S. Department of […]

Microsoft Corp. on Thursday announce a fairly significant organizational change to its business software groups. Execs said the moves were made in order to better focus the company on its small and mid-sized business applications strategy and align its namesake Business Solutions division and partner channels. The Microsoft Business Solutions (MBS) division comprises its Great […]

As Oracle and the U.S. Department of Justice prepare to face off in a San Francisco federal courtroom Monday, each side is honing its strategy. Earlier this week, Oracle Corp., of Redwood Shores, Calif., and the Department of Justice (DOJ) released their respective trial briefs, which put to paper each sides case as it will […]

Oracle is adding to the core functionality of its E-Business Suite of enterprise applications through a partnership with MasterCard International. The companies last week announced that they will integrate transaction data from E-Business Suite with MasterCards Oracle-based global data repository to help companies simplify transaction data reconciliation. The integration will provide improved travel, expense and […]

NetSuite Inc. is bolstering its suite of hosted applications with new components designed to reach to the core of a companys business. Version 10 of NetSuites namesake suite of services, which the company unveiled last week, includes upgrades to core business automation areas such as purchasing, order management, order fulfillment and revenue recognition, officials said. […]

Emptoris Inc. has upgraded its namesake supply management procurement software with a sourcing platform that unifies the companys products. Emptoris Version 5, which the Burlington, Mass., company rolled out last week, promises to integrate the components of Emptoris online procurement system—spend analysis, negotiation, supplier performance management, contract management, decision support and compliance tracking. With the […]

PeopleSoft Inc. announced Wednesday that it settled the dispute with shareholders over its controversial Customer Assurance Program. The program entitled some customers between two and five times their license fees in the event of a takeover by another company that did not support PeopleSoft products for a specified amount of time. The Customer Assurance Program […]

NetSuite, the company that makes Oracles Small Business Suite and offers its own package of enterprise resource planning (ERP) software for the small and midmarket sector, is moving upstream by adding core functionality. NetSuite Inc. on Thursday will announce version 10 of its namesake suite, which offers upgrades to its core ERP products in areas […]

Midmarket companies using SSA Global Technologies enterprise resource planning and other software may have it a little easier with integration issues. IBM and SSA Global Technologies Inc. on Monday will announce an alliance in which SSA will standardize all of its applications on IBMs middleware—including the namesake WebSphere Portal, WebSphere Business Integration, WebSphere Application Server—and […]