Renee Boucher Ferguson

Oracle is sitting on the fence when it comes to the midmarket—at least about building a separate suite for smaller companies when it builds out its next-generation suite of applications, dubbed Fusion. The possibility of a second suite, it seems, is on the table. “Theres been no decision,” said Lenley Hensarling, vice president and general […]

Nashville—At the annual Oracle Application User Group conference here—an event that typically draws tons of users but few Oracle executives—Oracle president Charles Phillips announced on April 25 that the company will continue to develop its separate application suites beyond its big-bang Fusion release. In his first keynote address at OAUG (a conference that now includes […]

After months of near-crippling it issues that denied thousands of pensioners access to retirement funds, caused customer accounting nightmares and prompted once-devoted customers to lodge formal complaints with regulatory authorities, officials at the beleaguered TIAA-CREF retirement fund company have pinpointed issues and are taking corrective action. Internal and external problems began surfacing at the Teachers […]

With its latest applica-tion suite, Lawson 9, on the market since March, and the acquisition of Intentia International expected to close April 24, Lawson Software laid out its product road map through 2008—in other words, the foreseeable future, if youre talking software years—at its annual CUE, or conference and user exchange. At the same time, […]

With interest rising seemingly daily around radio-frequency identification technology, Alien Technology is cashing in. The company announced April 14 that it filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission for a proposed $120 million IPO (initial public offering). Bear, Stearns & Co. is leading the IPO charge, with Cowen & Company, Robert W. Baird & Co. […]

TIAA-CREF officials are starting to see the light of day. After months of near-crippling IT troubles that denied thousands of pensioners access to their retirement funds, caused customer accounting nightmares, and prompted those once-devoted customers to lodge formal complaints with regulatory authorities, officials at the beleaguered retirement fund company have pinpointed sources of trouble and […]

At its annual TUCON user conference April 11 to 13 in Orlando, Fla., TIBCO Software launched new software that integrates process modeling, management and simulation to help business users better interoperate with IT. The TIBCO Business Studio, announced April 13, is part of the integration companys role-design technology software that is geared toward business users. […]

Suppliers and RFID vendors alike can breathe a sigh of relief. Wal-Mart Stores new CIO, Rollin Ford, said in an in-house CIO Summit on April 13 that he plans to stand behind the RFID technology march at Wal-Mart, much to the same degree his predecessor did. Ford, the former executive vice president of logistics and […]

Oracle, on a buying frenzy for nearly two years, announced April 12 the acquisition of Portal Software, a company that will fit in with its already bursting-at-the-seams business applications division. Portal Software, which Oracle is acquiring for $220 million, develops billing and revenue management software for a specific vertical market—the communications and media industry. Oracle […]

Hewlett-Packard is again building on its SOA story—and working hard to appeal to companies that may be ready to implement a services-based architecture. The company announced April 11 four new service-oriented architectures geared toward vertical industries: financial services, manufacturing and distribution, the public sector, and telecommunications. Over the past year, HP has announced a number […]