Oracle sees bleak future in North America

BOSTON: Oracle Corp.'s vice president of sales in North America on Wednesday

said he saw no sign of a turnaround among customers, who remain bent on

conserving cash rather than making investments.

"We believe we have kind of hit the bottom," George Roberts, an

Oracle executive vice president, said at the US Bancorp Piper Jaffray technology

conference in Boston. "We think we have our feet on solid ground. But the

marketplace isn't turning. Customers are not freeing up their capital. They are

very focused on capital preservation."

The world's No. 2 software maker is facing a tough sell as corporations only

spend money on top projects. Roberts dismissed a recent story in the Wall Street

Journal that suggested Oracle's 11i-software product, a suite of applications to

manage corporate operations, has not gained traction among large corporations.

When asked if 11i sales were on track, Roberts replied, "We're very

comfortable with the interest we are seeing from customers. It's coming along

very nicely and we're very pleased with where we are at".

Roberts said 11i has 572 live customers and another 3,500 customers are

implementing the do-it-all software product, which handles human resource

functions, sales, supply chain management and customer relations management.

(C) Reuters Limited 2001.