With combined sales of about $1.6 billion, the merged firm would become the third-largest applications vendor after SAP AG and Oracle Corp.

Jim Schaper, chairman and CEO of Alpharetta, Ga.-based Infor, would not offer a detailed, long-term product road map, but he said there are no plans to eliminate products or force users to migrate from older applications.

"I have no end-of-product-life concerns," said Bruce Knoll, director of IT at Meridian Automotive Systems Inc. in Dearborn, Mich.

The car parts maker runs Infor's Mapics ERP software. Knoll said Infor isn't likely to force the installed base to migrate to SSA software. In fact, he said he is curious to see what SSA might bring to Infor's product portfolio.

Knoll said both Infor and SSA service midsize manufacturers that rely on the AS/400 platform, making the deal a "good match."