Analysts: Siebel, Microsoft plan .NET link
C|Net | at | by Mike
Stoking speculation about how the two companies will work together, Siebel Systems CEO Tom Siebel denied rumors that Microsoft is set to acquire or invest in his business applications company. During a third-quarter earnings call Thursday, Siebel addressed recent analyst reports that suggested Microsoft would soon make a minority investment in Siebel in conjunction with an expanded marketing and development partnership.
A technology pact with Microsoft would make sense, analysts said. JMP Securities analyst Patrick Walravens said Siebel 7 isn't J2EE-compliant, an issue since J2EE's gained acceptance by enterprise customers. For its part, Siebel disputes Walravens assessment. Nevertheless, if Walravens assessment is common among corporate customers, Siebel could be teaming with Microsoft to ride .Net into enterprises. In addition, Siebel is unlikely to place its architecture bet on J2EE because "rewriting the component in Java would be a time-consuming and very expensive process."