Close
  • Latest News
  • Big Data and Analytics
  • Cloud
  • Networking
  • Cybersecurity
  • Applications
  • IT Management
  • Storage
  • Sponsored
  • Mobile
  • Small Business
  • Development
  • Database
  • Servers
  • Android
  • Apple
  • Innovation
  • Blogs
  • PC Hardware
  • Reviews
  • Search Engines
  • Virtualization
Read Down
Sign in
Close
Welcome!Log into your account
Forgot your password?
Read Down
Password recovery
Recover your password
Close
Search
Logo
Logo
  • Latest News
  • Big Data and Analytics
  • Cloud
  • Networking
  • Cybersecurity
  • Applications
  • IT Management
  • Storage
  • Sponsored
  • Mobile
  • Small Business
  • Development
  • Database
  • Servers
  • Android
  • Apple
  • Innovation
  • Blogs
  • PC Hardware
  • Reviews
  • Search Engines
  • Virtualization
More
    Home Applications
    • Applications
    • Database
    • Networking

    HP, Oracle Continue Sparring Over Intel Itanium Case

    By
    Jeff Burt
    -
    May 15, 2012
    Share
    Facebook
    Twitter
    Linkedin

      Hewlett-Packard and Oracle are trading barbs over the latest step on the way to trial in their dispute over Intel€™s Itanium chip platform, with HP officials applauding a judge€™s decision to toss Oracle€™s request to throw out HP€™s case.

      Santa Clara County Court Judge James Kleinberg in a court document May 14 outlined his reasons for refusing Oracle€™s summary judgment request, essentially saying that HP€™s position€”that an agreement laid out between the two companies in the 2010 settlement of a previous court obligated Oracle to continue supporting Itanium in its software development plans€”was reasonable enough to be considered at trial.

      Kleinberg€™s order came two weeks after he refused requests by both companies to throw out key parts of the case, saying there was enough merit to all of them to let them go to trial.

      At issue is the decision by Oracle executives last year to end software support of the Itanium platform, saying that Intel had plans to stop developing the high-end chip in favor of its much more popular Xeon processors. HP railed against the decision, calling it the latest in a series of moves to harm HP Itanium customers. HP estimates there are about 140,000 joint customers running Oracle software on HP€™s Itanium-based Integrity and NonStop servers.

      The legal dispute is the most recent example of the deteriorating relationship between the one-time close partners that started with Oracle€™s purchase of Sun Microsystems and its hardware business, bringing it into direct competition with HP. The acrimony was further heightened when Oracle in 2010 hired ex-HP CEO Mark Hurd as president. HP sued, and officials have argued that in the settlement of that case, Oracle had agreed to continue supporting technologies that benefitted joint customers.

      Oracle officials have argued that the language in the settlement doesn€™t rise to the level of an official agreement.

      In his May 14 order, Kleinberg said that such interpretation should be decided in court, arguing that €œit is not unreasonable to interpret the Reaffirmation Provision as imposing a prospective obligation on Oracle to continue to offer products for HP€™s platforms; the plain language is readily susceptible to that interpretation. If the prior, existing obligation before [Mark] Hurd€™s hiring involved a clear and consistent practice in which Oracle offered its product suite on all HP platforms without written porting agreements or payments, then the Court sees no inherent contradiction in €˜reaffirming€™ that this arrangement will continue going forward.€

      HP officials praised the decision, saying they were €œpleased that the Court ruled that the language in the HP/Oracle agreement can be interpreted to require Oracle to continue porting its software products to the HP Integrity platform, as Oracle did for years before the agreement. As the ruling states, Oracle€™s interpretation would make the agreement €˜illusory€™ and €˜should be rejected.€™ We look forward to trial, where the details of Oracle€™s deliberate, anti-customer business strategy to drive hardware sales from Itanium to inferior Sun servers will be revealed.€

      In an email to the AllThingsD news site, Oracle attorney Dan Wall saw the decision in a different light.

      €œHP cannot be happy with this decision,€ Wall wrote. €œThe Court did not accept HP€™s interpretation of the Hurd settlement agreement; in fact, it rejected out-of-hand the most recent version of HP€™s argument, which equated the contract with terms HP proposed, but Oracle rejected. HP€™s lawsuit, like Itanium itself, is living on borrowed time and will never succeed.€

      Oracle executives have argued that Intel engineers informed them of Itanium€™s imminent demise, a statement that Intel officials€”including President and CEO Paul Otellini€”have denied, saying they have a product road map that stretches toward the end of the decade. Oracle has accused HP of false advertising for not telling Oracle or its customers that HP was paying Intel $88 million a year to continue development of Itanium.

      In a court hearing earlier this month, Wall reportedly told Kleinberg that there was no chance of the two sides reaching a settlement in the case, where HP is looking for $4 billion in damages. The case is expected to go to trial late this month or in June.

      Jeff Burt
      Jeffrey Burt has been with eWEEK since 2000, covering an array of areas that includes servers, networking, PCs, processors, converged infrastructure, unified communications and the Internet of things.

      MOST POPULAR ARTICLES

      Cybersecurity

      Visa’s Michael Jabbara on Cybersecurity and Digital...

      James Maguire - May 17, 2022 0
      I spoke with Michael Jabbara, VP and Global Head of Fraud Services at Visa, about the cybersecurity technology used to ensure the safe transfer...
      Read more
      Android

      Samsung Galaxy XCover Pro: Durability for Tough...

      Chris Preimesberger - December 5, 2020 0
      Have you ever dropped your phone, winced and felt the pain as it hit the sidewalk? Either the screen splintered like a windshield being...
      Read more
      Cloud

      Yotascale CEO Asim Razzaq on Controlling Multicloud...

      James Maguire - May 5, 2022 0
      Asim Razzaq, CEO of Yotascale, provides guidance on understanding—and containing—the complex cost structure of multicloud computing. Among the topics we covered:  As you survey the...
      Read more
      Big Data and Analytics

      GoodData CEO Roman Stanek on Business Intelligence...

      James Maguire - May 4, 2022 0
      I spoke with Roman Stanek, CEO of GoodData, about business intelligence, data as a service, and the frustration that many executives have with data...
      Read more
      IT Management

      Intuit’s Nhung Ho on AI for the...

      James Maguire - May 13, 2022 0
      I spoke with Nhung Ho, Vice President of AI at Intuit, about adoption of AI in the small and medium-sized business market, and how...
      Read more
      Logo

      eWeek has the latest technology news and analysis, buying guides, and product reviews for IT professionals and technology buyers. The site’s focus is on innovative solutions and covering in-depth technical content. eWeek stays on the cutting edge of technology news and IT trends through interviews and expert analysis. Gain insight from top innovators and thought leaders in the fields of IT, business, enterprise software, startups, and more.

      Facebook
      Linkedin
      RSS
      Twitter
      Youtube

      Advertisers

      Advertise with TechnologyAdvice on eWeek and our other IT-focused platforms.

      Advertise with Us

      Menu

      • About eWeek
      • Subscribe to our Newsletter
      • Latest News

      Our Brands

      • Privacy Policy
      • Terms
      • About
      • Contact
      • Advertise
      • Sitemap
      • California – Do Not Sell My Information

      Property of TechnologyAdvice.
      © 2021 TechnologyAdvice. All Rights Reserved

      Advertiser Disclosure: Some of the products that appear on this site are from companies from which TechnologyAdvice receives compensation. This compensation may impact how and where products appear on this site including, for example, the order in which they appear. TechnologyAdvice does not include all companies or all types of products available in the marketplace.

      ×