Oracle users to serve up PeopleSoft questions

LONDON — Oracle kicked off its AppsWorld conference here Monday against the backdrop of the Wimbledon tennis championships, where the rapid-fire volleying on the courts seemed to mirror the enterprise software provider’s recent moves to acquire rival PeopleSoft.

But despite acquisition speculation made by Oracle representatives and guests hobnobbing at the championships Monday, the company said that this week’s conference would remain focused on the company’s E-Business Suite and related new product news, as well as regional European issues.

Robert Fleming, Oracle’s senior director of applications marketing for Europe, the Middle East and Africa (EMEA), said that in addition to E-Business discussions, there will be a focus on corporate governance, market opportunities among upcoming E.U. member states, and outsourcing.

“This program will in part be about how to reduce the total cost of ownership and answering some hard questions on how much software to buy and maintain,” he said.

Still, the company is holding a press question-and-answer session at AppsWorld London Wednesday to address its $6.3 billion unsolicited bid for PeopleSoft, which could directly affect the 13,000 registered attendees of this week’s AppsWorld meetings in Europe as well as shakeup the market.

Paul Parnis, applications director for the U.K. Oracle Users Group (UKOUG) said that he expects his group examine the issue this week.

“We see [the proposed buy] as a double edge sword,” Parnis said. “One the one hand it would clearly strengthen Oracle as a company but it would reduce competition in the arena.”

Parnis said that if the acquisition goes through, his group looks forward to seeing added human resources (HR) functionality “creeping into Oracle products,” given that HR is PeopleSoft’s speciality. However, he added that he didn’t believe product changes related to the acquisition would affect users for at least two years.

Of course, Parnis conceded that it was still too early to predict what changes would take place given that Oracle’s bid for PeopleSoft is still in early and contentious stages.

Oracle raised its initial $5.1 billion offer for PeopleSoft to $6.3 billion last week, while also announcing it was suing the company and its board for thwarting its shareholders’ ability to accept the offer. PeopleSoft had earlier sued Oracle for interfering with its purchase of J.D. Edwards.

While the volleying looks set to continue, both among the enterprise software providers and on the courts of Wimbledon, Oracle users, at least, will be gathering this week in Europe, looking for answers. For now, however, everything seems up in the air.

AppsWorld London runs through Thursday, with parallel events in Rome, Paris and Spain.