ERP

SAP, Intel, and Novell team up for ERP appliance: What's the end game?

SAP announced today its ERP-in-a-box solution, based on Novell's SUSE Linux and Intel processors. It sounds like a cool solution (though why this would be more appealing than SAP's SaaS offering, I don't know). It's yet another proof point that SAP and the global ERP vendors see the SME market as the future...which is right where open source offerings like Openbravo and Compiere compete best.

Through the optimization work it did with Intel and the right combination of software, including SUSE Linux, SAP aims to provide customers with a 45% savings on implementation and a 25% savings on total cost of ownership over what they'd typically spend for a comparable hardware/software combo, said Jans Peter Klaey, president of global SME at SAP, in an interview.

One interesting (and hitherto unasked) question is why SAP would have done this deal with the distant second-place Linux distribution, SUSE, instead of with Linux frontrunner, Red Hat?… Read more

Running the open-source bulls with Openbravo

I'm at Openbravo's first ever community event, and I'm impressed. In a market so heavily dominated by the big ERP vendors (SAP, Oracle, Microsoft), it's gratifying to see a room filled with people interested in an open-source alternative to proprietary, clunky ERP software (with 800 companies contacting Openbravo to become partners).

I particularly like the fact that Openbravo is coming "clean" to the small-to-medium-sized ERP market. Oracle and SAP are trying to go "down-market" to reach this demographic (spending piles of money to sell for a low price to SMEs...?), but this rarely works, as Clayton Christensen has pointed out. It's hard to support the cost model needed to reach this market unless you're built to fit that market, as Openbravo is.

The other thing I like about Openbravo is that it proves you don't have to be based in Silicon Valley to succeed. The company is based in Pamplona (i.e., the running of the bulls). And yet its success has been global and impressive, a true testament to the power of open source:… Read more

SAP's ByDesign could be a winner, making SAP the loser?

SAP has finally launched its software-as-a-service offering, dubbed "ByDesign". I'm not sure if this is intended to imply "intelligent design" and the idea that divinity is somehow behind SAP's Big New (old) Idea, but as some point out, the big loser in ByDesign may be SAP itself. Time will tell if SAP can have it both ways: traditional, complex and mightily expensive ERP versus its new SaaS, easier to use and moderately expensive (but comparatively cheap) ERP.

I think this is the right thing for SAP to do as far as its customers are concerned. But it may not bode well for SAP, as Nick Carr highlights:

But in the end the company most threatened by ByDesign may be SAP itself....The big risk is that ByDesign will begin to cannibalize SAP's traditional and very lucrative software business--without providing similar revenues or profits.… Read more

PeopleSoft founder releases Workday Financials beta

It's been nearly a year since Dave Duffield unveiled his on-demand enterprise applications company Workday, with the launch of his Workday Human Capital Management software.

And since that time, Duffield and Co. have been toiling away to build out the rest of his on-demand enterprise resource planning (ERP) vision. The PeopleSoft founder has added another piece to his project.

A beta version of Workday Financials was released Monday. The software includes core accounting features such as accounts payable, accounts receivable and financial accounting and reporting.

In the to-be-added category, the company plans to add such features as support for … Read more

OpenMFG transforms into xTuple, but misses the open-source train

OpenMFG just took one step forward, and two steps backward. First, the positive. The company, which provides ERP and CRM solutions for small to medium-sized enterprises, has rebranded itself as xTuple. It has also developed PostBooks, a QuickBooks competitor.

Good stuff. We need more software like this. What we don't need, however, is xTuple's flawed licensing scheme that feints at open source, but falls far short.

xTuple's license is a mess, on two primary accounts:… Read more

Larry Ellison is so cuddly, everyone wants to squeeze him

Yet another former Oracle executive has decided to go after his former boss. This time it's Don Klaiss, and he has taken the reins of Compiere. Jorg Janke assumes the role of CTO.

Klaiss is shaking things up already, changing Compiere's management team and its business model. As well as its sales targets:… Read more

Shopping at the open source mall...with Optaros as your guide

Optaros has just launched the Enterprise Open Source Directory, and it's exceptional. In some ways, it's competitive with Red Hat Exchange (RHX), but only superficially. Both provide an easy way to find and evaluate (on paper) the leading enterprise-class open source projects. RHX, however, takes it a step further and offers easy installation and post-sale support.

But Optaros' EOSD goes farther than RHX in providing a hefty inventory of open source projects to evaluate, with both its ratings and user ratings. So, if you look up Enterprise Content Management, Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP), Operating Systems, etc., you get Optaros' studied judgment as well as the EOSD community's judgment. The ratings and information are somewhat sparse now, but will grow and improve as the site gets used.

Here's a look:… Read more