Oracle overhauls support policy for acquired apps

20.09.2005
Looking to reassure those of its installed base who are reluctant to migrate from their existing applications, Oracle Corp. is overhauling its support policy.

At the Oracle OpenWorld users conference in San Francisco Monday, executives began outlining a new policy that will, to varying degrees, ensure that the company's various families of applications have lifetime support. At the same time, Oracle will continue to develop a best-of-breed set of applications, known as Fusion, which customers will have the option of migrating to at their own pace.

Oracle hopes in this way to help prevent any of its newly acquired installed base, which now includes users of PeopleSoft and J.D. Edwards software, from bolting to rivals, such as SAP AG, who play on their fears of obsolescence.

Some PeopleSoft users in particular are very reluctant to switch platforms, said Juergen Rottler, executive vice president of Oracle On Demand and support services. So Oracle intends to give them more time to decide when they want to upgrade.

There will be two different types of support. One, called premier, provides support for the Oracle database, middleware and applications for five years from general release. This support level includes updates, fixes and security alerts, as well as tax- and regulatory-related patches.

On the sixth year, said Rottler, customers who want extended support at the same level will pay an additional 10 percent fee. For the next two years, that fee increase will be 20 percent; after that it will drop back to its original level. "We're not introducing this to generate incremental revenue," Rottler said, arguing that the program will offer much more simplicity for customers.