Oracle Users Eye PeopleSoft

As the Oracle Corp. (Nasdaq: ORCL)/PeopleSoft Inc. (Nasdaq: PSFT) soap opera returns for another season, the Redwood Shores, Calif.-based firms customers are urging Oracle to support some of PeopleSoft’s core products, should the takeover bid prove successful.

So far, the PeopleSoft board has resisted the takeover, prompting a slew of courtroom battles and an intensifying war of words between the two companies. Against this backdrop, a number of Oracle customers contacted by NDCF this week admitted that they have already got their eye on some of PeopleSoft’s best offerings.

Carl Esposito, IT Director at the New York City Board of Education Retirement System is pretty excited about the ERP products that PeopleSoft acquired when it bought J.D Edwards last year.

”I would hope that Oracle either keeps the J.D Edwards product line as a separate product line or incorporates it into its existing products,” he says. “It’s got a good reputation as a compact and focused product.”

Ronan Miles, chairman of the UK Oracle User Group cites both J.D Edwards and some of PeopleSoft’s payroll applications as particularly appealing. “Integrating them well will be of significant benefit to [Oracle] customers,” he says.