Oracle snaps back at SAP

In the latest salvo thrown in the increasingly confrontational battle to control the enterprise software sector, Oracle on Tuesday introduced a program aimed at enticing customers of rival SAP to migrate to its products.

The Oracle program, boldly labeled as its "OFF SAP" initiative (Oracle Fusion for SAP), mirrors the multiple efforts created by SAP specifically to lure Oracle customers as the database giant works to digest its massive acquisition spree. The company's buyout binge included swallowing large enterprise software rivals PeopleSoft and J.D. Edwards in one gulp, as well as smaller companies such as retail specialist Retek.

Earlier on Tuesday, SAP announced that it had won a major customer, luggage maker Samsonite, using one such "safe passage" program targeting existing customers of J.D. Edwards.

It is widely rumored that SAP has been offering extremely attractive terms in order to get customers to defect during Oracle's acquisitions aftermath, but, not to be outdone, the company captained by fiery CEO Larry Ellison is going all the way, and doing so in public. Oracle is offering a 100% license credit for qualified customers who agree to switch from SAP's R/3 applications package onto its own software.

As part of the effort, Oracle also introduced a consulting package meant to help convince SAP customers why they should move to Oracle applications, and said that its financing group will offer a two-year payment plan for any additional application license and support fees, with no interest and no payments for six months. Small print applies, as always.