Michael Fauscette, an IDC analyst who spoke at NetSuite's event, said the project-based ERP market will grow to $1.5 billion by 2010.

But since many project-based companies actually bought ERP systems geared more for product manufacturing and then customized them, the real size of the project-based market could be much larger, he said.

In other news Tuesday, NetSuite announced a revamped OpenAir product lineup that includes offerings for small, medium and large businesses.

The entry-level Team Edition includes integrations with QuickBooks and NetSuite and, for a fee, Salesforce. The mid-level Professional Edition adds more powerful features, such as a configurable billing rules engine. The high-end Enterprise Edition provides the Professional Edition's features plus additional functionality, like an API (application programming interface) for connecting with other applications, as well as 24-7 customer support.

NetSuite's announcements closely follow Oracle's recent news that it plans to buy Primavera, a vendor Forrester Research analyst Ray Wang termed "the granddaddy of project management." Oracle CEO Larry Ellison is a major investor in NetSuite.