On the second day of Oracle Open World 2005 in San Francisco this week, Oracle announced its 10th acquisition in just over six months.
More than a week after announcing its intention to buy Siebel Systems, Oracle announced it would buy logistics and transportation management software provider Global Logistics Technologies (G-Log).
"The acquisition of G-Log will allow Oracle to offer a comprehensive supply chain and logistics management solution," said Oracle senior applications development VP Rick Jewel.
"With G-Log`s transportation management platform and Oracle`s technology infrastructure, ERP and supply chain applications, customers will now have an integrated offering for the lean enterprise," said Jewel.
Reassuring new clients
As Oracle continued to acquire customers, the focus at Oracle Open World shifted to customer relations, with particular reference to new and future applications development.
Using the opportunity to reassure the thousands of new customers, Oracle made several announcements aimed at proving its commitment to customers. It also announced that, according to research by Satmetrix, PeopleSoft and JD Edwards customer satisfaction had increased 11% since the merger of the companies.
Having emphasised the importance of good customer relationships through delivering the right data and services when and how they are needed, HP CEO Mark Hurd announced a joint initiative with Oracle to help improve IT service levels.
"The 'optimise for agility` initiative will help enterprises lower IT costs, optimise IT service levels and improve business agility," said Hurd.
"Driven by customer requirements for improved return on IT investment and greater alignment of IT service levels with business needs, the goal of the initiative is to enable joint customers to benefit from virtualised, cost-effective, reliable and scalable IT resources," he explained.
Continuing support
John Wookey, Oracle senior applications development VP, also emphasised the importance of customer relationships in his keynote, saying Oracle believed it was assured success by being committed to customer success.
Wookey gave assurances, particularly to PeopleSoft and JD Edwards customers, that Oracle was committed to continuing support for newly-acquired product sets, delivering additional value to users, and helping customers move forward.
"We are here to protect your investment, help you get more value out of it by extending it and helping you evolve to the next generation," Wookey told customers.
New products
In another announcement, Oracle unveiled operational dashboards for Oracle`s PeopleSoft Enterprise CRM, which are the first Oracle applications to be released on Oracle Fusion Middleware.
It also introduced an IBM eServer solution for Oracle`s JD Edwards EnterpriseOne and JD Edwards World to better manage core business operations at small and medium businesses.
Other applications announcements included enhancements to the Oracle Corporate Performance management suite, plans with EDS to provide joint application management hosting and modernisation services, and the introduction of the Oracle Retail brand to unite the retail technologies of Oracle and the former Retek and ProfitLogic companies.
Related stories:
Oracle outlines strategy at Oracle World
Oracle 'aggressive` on middleware
Share