SAP winds down TomorrowNow

German software giant SAP today said it would shut down its TomorrowNow subsidiary, following damaging legal action with arch-rival Oracle.

Australian TomorrowNow customers have included Allianz, casino group Sky City Entertainment Group, and manufacturer National Foods, however, it remains unclear if the firms still use services from the SAP subsidiary.

TomorrrowNow provided third-party support for Oracle and other applications, and was bought by SAP in February 2005 as part of the German giant's effort to compete with US-based Oracle.

However, SAP has been engaged in a long-running legal case with Oracle after TomorrowNow was accused of stealing corporate information, including software code, from Oracle.

"SAP is working directly with TomorrowNow's more than 225 current customers to help them return to support from Oracle for those customers on PeopleSoft, JD Edwards or Siebel applications or to smoothly transition to new support options," said SAP in a statement today.

"Our goal is to assist our customers in transitioning to a new support provider, including Oracle, without a disruption to their support during the wind-down process," said Mark White, executive chairman, TomorrowNow.

SAP said it intended to conclude the wind-down process prior to 31 October.