Users fear Oracle will drop acquired products

Computerworld - Most users of business applications acquired by Oracle Corp. believe they ultimately will be forced to migrate to Oracle-built software, according to a survey of 449 members of the Oracle Applications Users Group.

The survey found that 61% of PeopleSoft and Siebel users think that Oracle will eventually push them to switch to Oracle-built technologies.

Ray Wang, an analyst at Forrester Research Inc., said the migration process has already begun for some users — Oracle's upgrades of the acquired software include parts of its own Fusion middleware.

"Each release of PeopleSoft is adopting more and more Fusion middleware components," Wang said. "Whether [customers] like it or not, as a price for paying for upgrades, they're going to get the latest Oracle technology."

Oracle built Fusion to link its myriad internally developed and acquired software products. Wang said the company hopes that adding Fusion to acquired products will make users less likely to turn to another vendor.

Customers who balk at paying for upgrades run the risk of paying exorbitant maintenance costs to support aging software that Oracle will eventually distance itself from, he added.

The Internet survey of OAUG members, conducted last October for the user group by Unisphere Media LLC, sought to clarify user attitudes about and plans for the Fusion middleware.

Robert Lepanto, president of the New York City Oracle Applications Users Group, noted that users also expressed fear that Oracle's $8.5 billion acquisition of BEA Systems Inc. earlier this month will blunt work on updating applications, despite assurances from CEO Larry Ellison that it will boost Fusion plans.

"There's always the question whether [the BEA acquisition] is going to dilute Oracle's attention from their existing products and services," said Lepanto, who is also Oracle applications manager at AppCentric Solutions LLC.

Read more about software in Computerworld's Software Knowledge Center.