Patrick Walravens’ SAP/Teradata speculation doesn’t make much sense
A persistent analyst named Patrick Walravens keeps speculating about an SAP acquisition of Teradata. So far as I can tell, Walravens is the sole source of this rumor, evidently because he actually thinks the combination would make some kind of business sense.
An example of the “logic” behind this theory is:
Mr. Walravens’s latest evidence pointing to such a move stems from the expected departure of a SAP executive who had been running the company’s NetWeaver software line, which includes a data warehouse package.
At a guess, Walravens is saying that Teradata’s products and SAP’s BI Accelerator somehow substitute for each other in the marketplace. If you believe that comparison, I’d like to sell you a railroad locomotive made by Jaguar.
My list of actual SAP/Teradata synergies is, more or less:
- Both SAP and Teradata sell something resembling enterprise software, especially to large enterprises.
- Both SAP and Teradata have Oracle as a principal competitor.
- SAP recently bought Business Objects. Business Objects and Teradata products work together.
- A Teradata box can be used to assist in an SAP migration.
My list of SAP/Teradata anti-synergies is, more or less:
- SAP sells applications; Teradata sells platform technology.
- Business Objects benefits from platform neutrality.
- Teradata benefits from BI neutrality.
- Teradata competes with HP and Sun; SAP works with them.
From where I sit, the anti-synergies seem more compelling.
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5 Responses to “Patrick Walravens’ SAP/Teradata speculation doesn’t make much sense”
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Locomotive?…Jaguar? I’ll take one!
Patrick Walravens is an idiot!
Oracle sells both platforms and apps… couldn’t SAP buy TDC to compete with Oracle?
[…] joint mission to smite Oracle, IBM, and/or Microsoft. Nor is it a telling first step toward an SAP/Teradata merger. It just removes a particular competitive disadvantage Teradata had vs. Oracle et al., from which […]
TD has omething SAP needs…..its not if nor when, but what will it mean to customers.