SAP is expected to release its hosted CRM software next month. That’s significant because SAP is considered the leading traditional CRM vendor, and its success or failure with a hosted version could be a bellwether for the rest of the hosted software industry. Does the success of mid-market solutions like salesforce.com’s mean that enterprise versions can also succeed, or is that sort of code base just too much for any hosted model to contain? And what would the hosted version really offer that client/server can’t or doesn’t? FrontRange is also expected to launch hosted CRM software this year.

For more on SAP’s progress:
- read this CRM Buyer article
- check out this AP article

Oracle said it’s halfway through developing Fusion, the middleware to integrate its wide variety of recent software acquisitions. The work began a year ago after Oracle bought PeopleSoft, however, they followed that with another huge deal for Siebel Systems. Oracle will release three application upgrades this year: E-business Suite 12, PeopleSoft 9, and JD Edwards 8.12. Those versions will essentially be Fusion-ready, officials said. These are important upgrades because older versions probably won’t be Fusion-compatible, they said.

For more on the progress report:
- read News.com article

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Tomorrow, Oracle executives will give a major status report on their Fusion middleware and other PeopleSoft/Siebel et al application integration topics. Oracle has about 9,000 developers working on Fusion, which should be largely done in 2008, officials said. Much of the technology will come directly from PeopleSoft, such as training and help functions, and financial controls on the ERP side.

For more on the apps’ evolution:
- see this InformationWeek article

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