SAP and Oracle going head to head

This week gives SAP and Oracle watchers an opportunity to see these giants go head to head in the entertainment stakes as each holds major conferences. SAP is in Phoenix with TechEd while Oracle takes over the Moscone Center (and a lot of the surrounding area) with its gargantuan Open World gig. This year both are making heavy use of video at a much more professional level than we've seen in the past.

SAP being SAP has integrated Ustream into its online presence, Oracle has gone for a customized Livestream, dropped into its online presence. Different threads and a different feel to each. At first glance, I prefer the way SAP has done it, providing individual playback. Oracle on the other hand seems to have gone for the 'all in one' play, stitching together pieces from different keynotes, informal interviews and so on into a daily composite alongside the live broadcasts.

Since this is Oracle's big annual splash, there is more variety on their smorgasbord with a combination of product announcements, technical sessions and interviews with industry rock stars like James (Mr Java) Gosling and Tom (Mr Database) Kyte. SAP on the other hand has chosen to put more obvious emphasis on partners, the SAP ecosystem and SAP Mentors with a regimented hourly program.

Although SAP's show has yet to kick off (as of the time of writing) similarities are already emerging. It is clear both plan to make a strong emphasis on their respective partner ecosystems. They are encouraging partners to build vertical market apps that fill in the many white spaces each has in their application stacks. There's bound to be a 'green' tinge to both.

I do hope Oracle chooses to live stream Marc Benioff, CEO Salesforce.com's keynote though I couldn't see anything specific scheduled. If Oracle doesn't I'm sure someone will YouTube it.

Rumor has it that Larry Ellison, Oracle's CEO is planning to use his close out keynote to drop a few Fusion Apps bombs. If true then the timing could have been better. Leaving it to last may allow Oracle to go out on a high note but it loses the opportunity to capture the full crowd's imagination.

Looking at SAP's timetable it looks like they've missed yet another opportunity to address the mid-market. Speaking to mid-market partners, this is becoming a tad annoying, especially as the company has way more mid-market customers than large enterprise customers.

If you don't have time to tune in to the shows then there are Twitter feeds #oow09 for Oracle and #sapteched09 for SAP. I have both set up side by side in Seesmic Desktop (as per the illustration at the top.) It's also good to see each company's fans raving about what they see. Provides great counterpoint to curmudgeons like me!