IBM Teams With Oracle To Target Midmarket Customers

IBM and Oracle may compete head-to-head in middleware and database software. But that isn't stopping them from pairing up to develop mid-market solutions based on Oracle's applications.

Under a deal announced Monday, IBM Global Business Services will develop, sell and implement solutions that bundle Oracle applications with IBM hardware, software and services. IBM will likely bring in channel partners under its Value Net program, including ISVs and regional systems integrators, to help deploy the industry-specific solutions.

As part of the deal IBM has joined the Oracle Accelerate program that provides SMB customers with pre-configured bundles of Oracle applications that are tailored for vertical industries and combined with rapid implementation tools and methodologies know as "Business Accelerators." IBM will contribute its Express Advantage products and rapid implementation services to the partnership.

IBM and Oracle already partner to jointly assemble and market solutions for big businesses and organizations. "But this is the first, true effort to collaborate to go after the mid-market," said Jeff Abbott, Oracle vice president, global Accelerate strategy and programs.

IBM Global Businesses Services already works with the Oracle E-Business Suite and Oracle's J.D. Edwards Enterprise One applications and those development efforts provide the foundation for the new partnership, Abbott said. The first specific solutions IBM is providing through the program are IBM Express Industrial Manufacturing Solution for Oracle Accelerate, available now in the U.S. and Canada, and the IBM Express Food and Beverage Solution for Oracle Accelerate, available in select European countries.

Other IBM Oracle Accelerate bundles are in the works, including solutions for life sciences and high technology customers. "There are many more solutions in the pipeline," Abbott said.