Managing Automation - August 2008 - (Page 8)

INDUSTRY NEWS FULL COVERAGE MA NEWSLETTER TO SUBSCRIBE GO TO OF EVENTS AND ANALYSIS WWW.MANAGINGAUTOMATION.COM managingautomation.com Alliances, Executive Appointments, Mergers & Acquisitions, Products news For the maonline in perspective BY JEFF MOAD Record APPOINTMENTS After 18 Months, the Oracle/SAP Suit Has Little Effect on Maintenance Sales Avery Dennison tapped Maggie Bidlingmaier as director of sales & marketing for the United States and Europe. Bosch Rexroth’s Electric Drives and Controls Technology Group named Dan Throne sales and marketing manager. TRUMPF Inc. appointed James Rogowski managing director of TRUMPF CANADA. I CONTRACTS ABB signed a $61 million agreement with Petrobras to supply process automation systems and services to eight oil refineries in Brazil over five years. General Mills picked DemandTec, Inc.’s Trade Planning & Optimization applications for its pricing and promotion strategies. Bayer Material Science used InSync’s software to develop and deploy RFID and sensor-enabled warehousing and logistics automation solutions. Wireless company Harris Stratex Networks selected RapidResponse ondemand response management service from Kinaxis. WIKA Instruments Ltd. implemented Selltis, LLC’s CRM software for its sales and business operations. Continued on page 11 t has been nearly 18 months since enterprise software giants Oracle Corp. and SAP AG went toe-to-toe over corporate theft charges filed March 22, 2007, by Oracle, but, besides spotlighting the intense rivalry between the two companies, the celebrated suit has done little to squelch the market for lower-cost maintenance services from third-party providers. “The suit really hasn’t had much of an impact on the market,” said Ray Wang, an analyst at Forrester Research. “People are still looking at third-party maintenance.” “The numbers looking at us may have been suppressed somewhat, but we can’t say what the percentage is,” said Seth Seth Ravin, president and CEO at Rimini Street Inc., one of the larger providers of third-party maintenance alongside SAP’s TomorrowNow unit, which is the subject of Oracle’s lawsuit. “Still,” Ravin added, “our business has been on a tear. We’ve grown 300% this year, and we’re seeing more longer-term deals with major Fortune 500 companies.” Interest in lower-cost third-party maintenance remains strong despite the suit for a couple of reasons, Wang and Ravin said. First, many enterprise software vendors continue to increase rates for the maintenance services they provide. SAP earlier this year, for example, raised annual maintenance charges for some new customers to 22% of license charges. And, more recently, SAP said it would transition all of its customers to the higher-cost Enterprise Support program. Second, experts said, many enterprise software users have decided to continue using older releases rather than upgrade, at least until significant Ravin new functionality becomes available from vendors such as SAP and Oracle. Without major upgrades to be concerned about, some enterprise software users are showing interest in third-party maintenance services, which can cost 50% less than comparable services from enterprise software vendors. Collaborative Production Management Continues Strong NUMBERS The collaborative production management market for discrete industries (CPM-D) is growing at a cumulative average rate of roughly 14% per year, driven by a need for quality and visibility, according to a report by market research firm ARC Advisory Group. CPM-D software and services revenue is forecast to climb to just more than $1.9 billion at the end of 2012 from $987 million in 2007. “Extreme competitive pressures are driving manufacturers to improve visibility, quality, customer responsiveness, and regulatory compliance” by replacing manual systems with real-time CPM applications, the report states. The research firm anticipates new suppliers’ continuing to enter the market for specific geographies and/or vertical markets. CPM systems perform production-centric functions, such as planning, controlling, operating, and informing, as well as integrating with business systems, engineering systems, and maintenance systems across multiple plants and enterprises. Collaborative Production Management in Discrete Industries $1.9 billion THE 2007 2008 2009 2010 2011 2012 ma 8 2008 August Source: ARC Advisory Group $987 million BY http://www.managingautomation.com http://www.managingautomation.com

Table of Contents Feed for the Digital Edition of Managing Automation - August 2008

Managing Automation - August 2008 Contents Take 1 After 18 Months, the Oracle/SAP Suit Has Little Effect on Maintenance Sales At 100, Foxboro Reinvents Around Its Customers New Private Equity Firm Eyes Software A Software Suite Just for Manufacturers i2 Chief Focuses on Services Plan Notes It's Time for Action Examining U.S. Competitveness Leveling the Field An Unhealthy Situation Exploring Alternatives Math and Science: Key to the Future Product Scan Advertiser Index Next

Managing Automation - August 2008

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