SAP

How SAP is facing the cloud challenge

more about "How SAP is facing the cloud challenge", posted with vodpod

On NBC's Press: Here (airing 8/23), Fortune's Jon Fortt, TechCrunch's Sarah Lacy and host Scott McGrew chat with SAP executive board member John Schwarz. For all four video segments online now, check out video on the Press: Here website. (SAP) (IBM) (ORCL) (CRM) (MSFT)

Meet the FORTUNE Infotech 40

Roundtable brings together top tech executives

Before there is Brainstorm Tech (the conference) there is Infotech Forty (the forum).

Fortune senior writer Jon Fortt and I are co-chairing an intimate event for a group of high-ranking technology executives whose jobs are becoming increasingly strategic in their corporations. No longer are these chief information officers and chief technology officers the folks who make company computers and software run; they play key roles in MORE

Is IBM still making nice?

IBM Software chief Steve Mills says that while Big Blue is doing more with application software, he'll be careful not to rough up his allies. Image: IBM

In a software industry defined by big egos and ruthless tactics, IBM built its empire on smart alliances. Rather than try to write every application customers needed to put their businesses on the web, Big Blue marshaled an army of allies and sold their MORE

HP and EDS: A chat with CEOs Mark Hurd and Ron Rittenmeyer

Early in the life of Hewlett-Packard, an adviser warned co-founder Dave Packard that more companies die from indigestion than starvation. The message: Be careful how you handle acquisitions.

With CEO Mark Hurd's announcement Tuesday that Hewlett-Packard (HPQ) will purchase services giant EDS (EDS) for $13.9 billion (including EDS's cash and debt), Hurd is making a bold statement that his team is operationally strong enough to handle the heartburn.

Why Larry loves Linux (and he's not alone)

If you thought open-source software was a threat to big-company profits, think again.

Oracle CEO Larry Ellison. Image: Oracle

Just a few years ago, the open-source software movement was a pariah among big software firms. Shai Agassi, then an executive at SAP (SAP), likened it to socialism. Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer called it a cancer. The attitude among many in the establishment seemed to be that the "free code" revolution led by MORE

With Oracle bid off the table, pressure rises on BEA

Oracle CEO Larry Ellison has put the pressure on BEA management. Photo: Oracle

BEA Systems rebuffed Oracle CEO Larry Ellison's $6.66 billion hostile takeover bid by letting it expire on Sunday, but this game is far from over. BEA's management now faces more pressure, not less, to sell the business software company.

That's because the San Jose-based company has the tough task of convincing anxious shareholders that it really is worth MORE

BEA: Will anyone start a bidding war with Larry Ellison?

Oracle CEO Larry Ellison has emerged as perhaps the industry's top merger mastermind.

You'd think Oracle (ORCL) CEO Larry Ellison makes crystal balls, not databases. Four years ago, the tycoon boldly declared that the business software market was on the brink of a buyout spree, and only a few mega-companies would survive.

Many wrote off that prophecy as mere bravado, but today things are happening just as Ellison predicted. And he's not MORE