Oracle has more reasons than steady annual-maintenance revenue streams to keep updating the JD Edwards products.

Despite their age, they are still selling well, even outpacing Oracle's other ERP lines, said analyst Ray Wang, CEO of Constellation Research.

"We see double-digit growth," with the strongest uptake coming in emerging markets such as India and Brazil, Wang said. "Asset-intensive" industries, such as oil drilling and mining, with the need to manage and track the cost of many pieces of expensive equipment, are particularly evaluating JD Edwards, he said.

JD Edwards customers are also benefiting from some of the advances brought by Oracle's Fusion Middleware, such as mobile applications, without having to be dependent on the full, expensive and complex software stack, according to Wang.

The IDG News Service