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Why Oracle worked so hard to grab Retek

Oracle late Monday put an end to the bidding war with SAP for retail software maker Retek. The database software giant offered $11.25 for each outstanding Retek share and said that SAP had dropped out of the bidding. SAP last Thursday had upped its bid to $11, from its initial offer of $8.50 per share.

Why the fuss over Retek? Both Oracle and SAP see the retail market as one of the few fertile areas left in the enterprise software market, worth perhaps $10 billion. Analysts say many retailers, which have lagged their counterparts in other industries in … Read more

SAP looks to build NetWeaver appeal

Business software giant SAP, looking to broaden the appeal of its software, is set to launch a community development program to attract coders to its NetWeaver integration tool.

This spring, the company intends to publish a software development kit to help outside application providers tap into its products. The idea is to encourage partners to build on top of SAP's business software, potentially broadening its appeal.

The move could generate revenue for SAP and increase its influence in the software industry. But the German giant has yet to prove it can be a beneficial partner, analysts say.