Informatica steals local Business Objects customers

About 15 businesses in Australia are eligible for the program, which Informatica is calling ‘Informatica Power to Innovate’, according to a local spokesperson for the company. Due to legal reasons, Informatica would not disclose the identities of those affected.

Last week Informatica in the US won an injunction against Business Objects that said the latter company was infringing on Informatica’s patented data transformation technology by incorporating the technology into its Business Objects Data Integrator product, which has been shipped worldwide.

Business Objects must now remove the infringing code from its product before it is sold and installed, with already-established systems rendered ineligible for upgrades.

If current Business Objects customers want to continue with future plans in the data integration area, they must now find an alternative product, according to Informatica Australia and New Zealand managing director, Laurie Newman.

“The number one objective for large corporations is data integration. This injunction will severely impact Business Objects customers,” he told ITnews.

“We’ve introduced a special offer for Business Objects customers to trade in the investment they’ve made and replace it with an industry-leading Informatica equivalent solution. We will offer up to A$120,000 as a trade-in credit on new Informatica licenses for existing Business Operations customers, as well as a 30 per cent discount on our professional services, to make it easier for Business Operations customers to move across to Informatica.”

According to Newman, the reusability of data integration products is fundamental to business enterprise. The infringed Informatica patent allowed the company’s applications to automatically upgrade when an operating system was changed or deleted, lowering the cost of ownership.

“This removes one of our competitors from the enterprise space,” said Newman.

Informatica is alerting affected Business Objects customers of its trade-in program via media outlets only. The company is not investing any money in advertising or marketing.

In 2002 when Informatica first filed the lawsuit, Business Objects made the following statement: "We find it an interesting coincidence that Informatica has decided to file patent infringement claims against Acta Technology seven days after Business Objects has announced its intent to acquire them," said Business Objects US-based CEO, Bernard Liautaud.

"We were aware of Informatica's patents and do not see them as an obstacle in any way. Their action neither surprises us nor dissuades us from moving forward with the Acta transaction."