And last week, as part of its Summer '06 software upgrade, Salesforce.com added a ready-to-use connector to SAP R/3. The Java-based connector will enable Salesforce.com's applications to share customer data with R/3 and synchronize the information, said Kendall Collins, the CRM vendor's vice president of product marketing.

No other integration links are in the works, Collins said. But, he added, "on integration, we clearly want to take the leadership role." He said that 23 packaged connectors are currently available on the AppExchange Web site.

"I was encouraged by what I saw with the R/3 integration," said Chad Rycenga, an IT director at Charter Communications Inc. in St. Louis. The cable TV and broadband services provider uses Salesforce.com's software to support its business customers and runs a mix of AS/400 and mainframe back-end applications.

Salesforce.com is attempting to appear integration-friendly, said Martin Schneider, an analyst at The 451 Group in New York. "But integration, regardless if you're deploying software as a service or on-premise applications, is hard work," he said.