Oracle Lays Out Plans to Fuse Its Three ERP Suites
by Timothy Prickett Morgan

With the deed finally done, the top brass at Oracle now have the challenging job of proving that the hostility the company showed in acquiring PeopleSoft does not extend to the companies using PeopleSoft and J.D. Edwards ERP suites or to the code embodied in those products. This has not been an easy task, to be sure, but Oracle's executives have done a pretty good job of convincing its new customers and employees that they have their best interests, if not at heart, at least in mind. READ MORE >

ERP Vendors Target PeopleSoft, JDE Bases
by Timothy Prickett Morgan

It never takes long for the competitive replacement deals to come out when one application software vendor acquires another. Last week, Lawson Software and SAP geared up to take a run at the PeopleSoft installed bases, each with a slightly different focus. Microsoft launched a competitive replacement program a week earlier. And it won't be long before dozens of ERP software makers, particularly those with iSeries experience, will begin attacking the PeopleSoft and J.D Edwards installed bases. READ MORE >

IBM Ends 2004 with Most Profitable Quarter in Its History
by Timothy Prickett Morgan

If you were wondering why IBM has been shedding business units in recent years, the title of this article sums it up. The Big Blue of old, from the 1950s, 1960s, and 1970s, was interested in controlling the IT market and wringing huge profits from that control. In the 1980s and 1990s, IBM learned, the hard way, that it cannot control the IT market and that it needed to focus on profit. In the 2000s, IBM has shed poorly profiting businesses, shored up vintage but profitable product lines, and launched itself into areas it believes will be profitable, even if they are today a bit esoteric. READ MORE >

Mad Dog 21/21: Technical Fowl
by Hesh Wiener

February 9 is the start of Chinese New Year 4702, variously known as the Year of the Rooster or the Year of the Green Chicken (or Green Hen). For computer buffs, however, a more suitable name might be the Year of the Big Blue Double Duck Out, which followed the At Least Five Years of the Ostrich. IBM will be selling its PC business, which has been consistently losing money for the past five years, to a Chinese company. Additionally, IBM will shift manufacturing of some Intel, AMD and some Power servers to a joint venture with another Chinese firm. READ MORE >

  But Wait, There's More

IBM, COMMON Launch iSeries Innovation Awards . . . Wary CIOs to Spend 2.5 % More on IT in 2005, Says Gartner . . . Survey Says IT Salaries Stagnated in 2004 . . . IBS Partners to Move into the Russian Market . . . Lawson Posts Loss on Declining Sales in Second Quarter . . . Jack Henry Sees Big Increase in Revenues, Profits in Second Quarter . . . McDATA Acquires Storage Rival CNT . . . READ MORE >

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