News

• SAP builds out HANA platform and ecosystem

  Anyone remotely within the orbit of SAP lately knows that its number-one focus is the HANA in-memory database and development platform. At this week's Sapphire conference in Orlando, the vendor sought to show the progress it is making in both building out HANA's capabilities as well as attracting developers and partners to HANA.

• NetSuite to increase focus on ERP for manufacturers

  Capitalizing on apparent demand from customers, NetSuite is adding new capabilities aimed at manufacturers to its cloud-based ERP (enterprise resource planning) software.

• SAP unveils HANA Enterprise Cloud service

  SAP is set to offer customers the option of running their applications on top of a cloud-based version of its HANA in-memory database technology.

• Audit: Tech overhaul for police, fire three years behind schedule

  A sweeping overhaul of systems used by Portland, Oregon's fire and police departments is three years behind schedule and about US$10 million over budget, in part because city officials failed to "effectively use lessons learned" from past technology projects, including a troubled SAP software implementation, according to a new audit report.

• Oracle's new software, Cloud revenue dropped 2 per cent in Q3

  Oracle's total revenue dipped 1 per cent and profits remained almost flat in its most recent quarter, as revenue from new software licenses and cloud services dropped by 2 per cent.

• FAQ: Inside Microsoft's cloud ERP strategy

  Microsoft has announced some key details of how it will introduce Dynamics ERP (enterprise resource planning) software products to the cloud computing model, from initial release dates to the precise role of partners.

• Microsoft going after enterprises with Dynamics AX ERP

  Microsoft hoped recent updates to its Dynamics AX 2012 ERP (enterprise-resource-planning) software would help it grab enterprise-level deals that would ordinarily be won by the likes of Oracle and SAP, and to some degree the strategy appears to be clicking.

• Microsoft set to roll out new mobile applications for Dynamics ERP, CRM

  Microsoft's AX ERP (enterprise resource planning) application will be receiving a set of mobile applications that mix connectivity to back-end systems and processes with a social milieu.

• Microsoft boosts Dynamics CRM with marketing, social media analysis

  Microsoft is hoping to shove aside rivals such as Salesforce.com and Oracle in the CRM (customer relationship management) software market by linking its own Dynamics CRM application with new capabilities for marketing automation and social media analysis.

• Oracle, Montclair State University settle lawsuit over PeopleSoft software project

  A nearly two-year-long, ugly legal battle between Oracle and Montclair State University over a troubled PeopleSoft ERP (enterprise resource planning) project has ended in a settlement both sides are calling amicable.

• Infor says its push into middleware is clicking

  Infor, the software industry's third-largest ERP (enterprise resource planning) application vendor after SAP and Oracle, has been building out its own underlying technology platform in a bid to gain more revenue as well as provide customers with easier integration and system management. The company maintains that strategy is clicking as its ION middleware has become the fastest-growing product in the vendor's history.

• SAP pins future hopes on growth of Ariba business network

  After 12 successive quarters of double-digit growth at SAP, co-CEO Jim Hagemann Snabe is now pinning his future hopes on the company's recently acquired Ariba e-commerce network.

• Four enterprise software products you might not need anymore

  No two businesses are exactly alike. Therefore, not all companies will be equally effective with the same software products.

• Coke bottler picks SaaS over SAP

  Gas prices may be rising, federal sequestration looming, and perhaps another meteor will strike. Bad things are happening, but not so much to Software as a Service providers.

• ERP software project woes continue to mount, survey says

  ERP (enterprise resource planning) software project schedule overruns got even worse in 2012, according to newly released data from Panorama Consulting.