甲骨文与Salesforce化敌为友

    这也许是一个时代的终结。抑或像甲骨文（Oracle）和Salesforce所描述的，是一个新时代的开始。上周四下午，这两家曾经的死对头突然召开电话会议，宣布签署一项为期9年的合作协议，将紧密整合各自的云服务。

    Salesforce是全球最大的客户关系管理软件（简称CRM）供应商，同时也是云计算的先行者。这家公司的首席执行官马克•贝尼奥夫说：“我们将为客户带来无以伦比的产品。这是一个崭新的世界，这是一个全新的时代。Salesforce和甲骨文的合作将是新纪元的开始。”

    Salesforce和甲骨文过去一直在相互竞争——两家公司的首席执行官还经常高调的在媒体上大打口水战，也算是娱乐大众。【它们在《财富》（Fortune）“史上50大商业对手”排行榜上排名第31位。】现在，两家公司表示，通过合作，用户有望更便捷地部署和整合位于云端的应用。按照协议，Salesforce承诺将使用甲骨文数据库及其它基础构件，还将部署甲骨文面向HR部门的Fusion人力资源管理软件。作为回报，甲骨文承诺使用Salesforce的拳头产品——客户关系管理软件，不过它并未透露应用范围。

    甲骨文首席执行官拉里•埃里森说：“几乎每家我们收购的公司都在使用Salesforce的CRM软件。”他补充道：“我们会让一些公司继续使用这些软件。”

    两家公司的客户都将享受到这些创造性的集成能力，不过两家公司不会实行交叉销售。甲骨文将继续销售甲骨文应用程序，而Salesforce将继续出售Salesforce应用程序。

    虽然两家公司的结盟出人意料，但也合乎情理，尤其是对甲骨文而言。甲骨文公司一直试图进军云计算领域，周早些时候还分别与微软（Microsoft）和NetSuite达成了合作伙伴关系。NetSuite是一家基于云计算、服务于中小型企业的企业资源规划软件供应商。虽然客户可能希望转移到云端，但他们不一定希望自己使用的所有应用程序都出自一家软件厂商。

    埃里森和贝尼奥夫上周四的互动与两人过去的针锋相对形成鲜明反差。（埃里森曾经将贝尼奥夫领导的Salesforce称为云服务领域的“蟑螂屋”。）但在上周四的电话会议中，这两位“掌门人”不停地互相恭维，连连礼让对方先回答问题。

    贝尼奥夫一度对埃里森说：“今天同你一道宣布我们两家公司的合作，我激动万分。”（旁白：贝尼奥夫的职业生涯始于甲骨文，他在埃里森手下干了十多年。）之后，他还邀请埃里森出席Salesforce一年一度的“Dreamforce”大会。埃里森欣然接受了邀请。

    问及这个新的伙伴关系是否将终结过去两人间“妙语如珠的嘴仗”，贝尼奥夫称他希望不会。贝尼奥夫说：“我乐在其中。”他补充道：“我们一直享受两人的共事和互相调侃。不过有些时候我们可能说得有些过火了，但愿今后不会这样了。”

    埃里森自然同意贝尼奥夫这番说法，他说：“我敢肯定马克和我都将继续试着娱乐大众，同时确保它不会影响我们合作的承诺。”换言之，埃里森和贝尼奥夫打口水仗的时代宣告结束。(财富中文网)

    译者：项航

    It's the end of an era. Or the beginning of one, as Oracle and Salesforce.com would describe it. The formerly sparring enterprise tech companies hosted a conference call for press and analysts Thursday afternoon, in which they outlined a new, nine-year partnership through which their respective cloud-based applications will work hand-in-hand.

    "The value we can provide to customers is just awesome," said Marc Benioff, CEO of Salesforce (CRM), the largest provider of customer relationship management tools and a pioneer in cloud-based software. "This is a new world, this is a new time. Companies like Salesforce and Oracle working together are evidence that that's how it has to be."

    Salesforce and Oracle (ORCL) have competed in the past -- and the companies' CEOs have long maintained a vocal, often entertaining war of words. (Their rivalry landed at No. 31 on Fortune's Greatest Business Rivalries of All Time list.) Now the two companies say they plan to allow customers to easily deploy and integrate their various applications in the cloud. As part of the agreement, Salesforce has committed to using Oracle's database and other infrastructure technologies and to implement Oracle's Fusion human capital management software, used by HR departments. Oracle, for its part, has agreed to run Salesforce's flagship customer relationship management software, though it didn't specify how widespread its implementation would be.

    "Almost every time we buy a company, they are running Salesforce CRM," said Larry Ellison, CEO of Oracle, adding that he plans to "leave some of those companies on those applications."

    Those same "out-of-the-box" integration capabilities will be made available to customers of both companies, though there won't be cross-selling involved. Oracle will continue to sell Oracle applications, and Salesforce will continue to sell Salesforce applications.

    The alliance, while surprising, could make sense, especially for Oracle, which has been trying to push its way into the cloud. The company inked other partnerships earlier this week, with Microsoft (MSFT) and NetSuite (N), a cloud-based provider of enterprise resource planning software for small- and medium-sized businesses. And while customers may want to move to the cloud, they don't necessarily want all of their applications from one vendor.

    But Thursday's call was a far cry from the tit-for-tat Ellison and Benioff have engaged in previous interactions. (Ellison once referred to Benioff's Salesforce as the "roach motel" of cloud services.) Instead, the two alpha males showered each other with compliments and kept telling each other they should "go first" when answering questions.

    "I couldn't be more thrilled to make this announcement with you today," Benioff said to Ellison at one point. (An aside: Benioff started his career at Oracle, where he stayed under Ellison for over a decade). Later in the call, he invited Ellison to attend Salesforce's annual "Dreamforce" conference. Ellison gladly accepted the invitation.

    When asked whether the new partnership will mean the end to the "fun, entertaining potshots" of the past, Benioff said he hopes not. "That's one of the things I've enjoyed in our industry," he added. "We've always enjoyed working together and having fun with each other. Hopefully it will be the end to us getting a little too revved up at times."

    Naturally, Ellison agreed with Benioff, saying "I'm sure both Marc and I are going to try to continue to be entertaining, while making sure that the entertainment never distracts from our commitment to work together." In other words, the era of entertaining potshots is over.