Oracle's commitment to supporting PeopleSoft suits Ohio

On October 1, 2004, the State of Ohio awarded PeopleSoft a contract to update the state's outdated financial and human resources systems. (Press Release here in PDF).

This January 20, 2005 press release says the following regarding Oracle's commitment to PeopleSoft products:

The state announced its selection of PeopleSoft software on October 1, 2004. On December 13, 2004, Oracle Corporation and PeopleSoft USA, Inc. announced that Oracle would acquire PeopleSoft. Oracle has made a public commitment to continued support and enhancement for PeopleSoft products, and the PMO is confident that the state's investment in PeopleSoft will be protected for years to come.

But, according to eWeek, some analysts do not see the same commitment from Oracle. Analysts: Project Fusion Is the Death Knell for PeopleSoft Apps:

Paul Hamerman, vice president of enterprise applications for Forrester Research Inc., agreed that Oracle sent mixed signals on product support. "While they say these products will be supported until 2013, they also said they'll continue to follow the existing PeopleSoft support schedule, with some modifications," he said. "That means customers can't stay on current releases indefinitely. Various releases over time will be desupported, so customers will have to continue to upgrade applications periodically in order to be supported. Eventually, they'll be encouraged to migrate to the next-generation product."

Oracle's Project Fusion press release.

Description of OAKS Project, which stands for "Ohio Administrative Knowledge System".

Related post.