Oracle cuts some support prices -- temporarily

Just a week after rival SAP AG revised its plan to raise support costs, Oracle Corp. announced plans to offer small, short-term discounts to large customers using older versions of its software.

The company last week said it will delay for a year or two -- depending on the application -- the 10% increase in support fees charged to customers transitioning from the premier support program to the extended plan. Customers are moved to the latter plan once the version of software they're using has been available for five years.

The move was announced at the International Oracle Users Group's annual conference in Orlando. "We saw what is going on in the market," said Juergen Rottler, Oracle's executive vice president for customer services.

SAP last month said it is slowing the pace of price increases scheduled after it launched a mandatory Enterprise Support program last year.

The Oracle E-Business Suite Release 11i10, J.D. Edwards Enterprise 8.11, Siebel CRM 7.8 and Oracle Database 10g R2 applications are eligible for a year of waived fee increases. PeopleSoft Enterprise 8.9 is eligible for two years of waived increases.

Scott Rosenberg, CEO of Miro Consulting Inc. in Fords, N.J., said that users will welcome "any price relief from Oracle," but further cuts are unlikely. Oracle "guards its support revenue stream zealously," he said, so customers would have to "fight tooth and nail" for more cuts.

Computerworld

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