Leading IT Advisor RFG Announces Teleconference to Discuss IT Implications of Oracle's Recent Acquisitions

Robert Frances Group (RFG), business advisors and consultants to Global 2000 information technology (IT) executives and their colleagues, announced today that John Van Decker will offer his perspective and advice on the recent Oracle acquisitions via a live teleconference. The event, entitled "Oracle, Siebel, Software Industry Consolidation – and How Best to Respond," takes place on Oct. 27 at 1PM ET/10AM PT.

Mr. Van Decker, a recognized industry leader with more than 21 years of experience, was previously the Senior Vice President – Technology Research Services at Meta Group (now part of Gartner, Inc.). At RFG, Mr. Van Decker is Senior Vice President and Principal Research Fellow, leading RFG's enterprise applications and compliance research efforts.

"The enterprise applications space is in a state of flux, with consolidation being the order of the day," said Mr. Van Decker. During the past year, Oracle Corp. has acquired PeopleSoft (which previously acquired JD Edwards), and is now in the process of acquiring Siebel. Moreover, Lawson Software recently announced a definitive agreement to merge with Intentia. "This is a critical time for IT executives, as they must understand the implications of vendor and product consolidations on their enterprise applications portfolios," Mr. Van Decker added.

Enterprise applications vendors have also been snatching up industry-specific solutions in an attempt to extend those vendors' footprints within organizations. The "mega-ERP" vendors want end users to buy their complete stack of applications, which is rapidly dampening the prospects of many remaining best-of-breed vendors.

"Today's consolidation events will ultimately change the way that IT executives negotiate for and buy software. Concurrently, this is a critical time for the mega-ERP vendors to prove that they can meet the immediate support requirements of their newly acquired customers. At the same time, these vendors must also develop a long-term strategy that is inclusive of their newly acquired customers' functional and platform requirements," according to Mr. Van Decker.

Mr. Van Decker, as well as RFG Chairman, CEO, and Executive Director of Research Cal Braunstein, will discuss these issues and many more on RFG's upcoming teleconference. Additional topics for discussion include:
· RFG's perspective on Oracle's buying behavior.
· What Oracle's acquisition of Siebel means for current Oracle and Siebel customers.
· How IT executives can ensure short-term and long-term support from Oracle.
· The resulting impact of consolidation activity on the enterprise applications market.
· Tips for optimizing service level agreements (SLAs).
· Approaches to software negotiation.
· Strategies for evaluating the viability of the remaining best-of-breed vendors.

The 45-minute RFG teleconference will begin promptly at 1:00PM ET/10:00AM PT on Thursday, Oct. 27, and will include a 15-minute question and answer (Q&A) session. Interested parties should contact Ron Exler, RFG Service Director and Director of Channels and Marketing, at (US) +203/429-8934 or rexler@rfgonline.com to register. Enrollment is limited. RFG suggests that attendees submit questions in advance to Mr. Exler, to guarantee that the most valuable issues are discussed during the teleconference.

About Robert Frances Group (RFG)

Every business day, information technology (IT) executives and their colleagues at leading enterprises, government agencies, and educational institutions look to Robert Frances Group (RFG) for timely, business-centric answers to their most pressing IT questions. Those clients enjoy direct, on-demand access to a team of industry analysts with decades of deep experience in enterprise IT management. RFG research and counsel helps IT executives architect, implement, and manage more successful initiatives. RFG clients achieve better communication with business decision-makers, greater business success, enterprise elasticity, and risk management, increased IT-business alignment, and more demonstrable business value for IT. More information is available at (US) +203/429-8950, info@rfgonline.com, or www.rfgonline.com.