Closing time: SAP opts to shut down TomorrowNow

July 21, 2008 (Computerworld) SAP AG announced that it plans to close its TomorrowNow Inc. subsidiary later this year after failing to find a buyer for the support operation, the target of a March 2007 lawsuit filed by Oracle Corp. Oracle contends that TomorrowNow illegally downloaded data from Oracle's Web site.

SAP said it plans to close the operation on Oct. 31, after it helps the subsidiary's 225 customers find new support vendors. "We are working with each customer individually to help them choose their best option, including choosing Oracle support. Some can go to other third-party support," said company spokesman Saswato Das.

TomorrowNow, which offers third-party maintenance and support for Oracle, PeopleSoft, Siebel and J.D. Edwards software products, was acquired by SAP in 2005.

Attorneys representing Oracle in the software vendor's lawsuit against rival SAP estimated last month that damages in the case should surpass $1 billion. Oracle alleges that TomorrowNow employees illegally downloaded confidential data from an Oracle support Web site early last year to court Oracle customers.

Das declined to say whether the lawsuit prompted SAP to shut down the unit. However, he did acknowledge that the ongoing litigation complicated finding a suitable buyer to acquire the third-party support software provider. "We carefully considered many options for selling TomorrowNow, but it would have been an extremely complex transaction for the seller and buyer because of [the lawsuit], therefore we decided to close down operations," remarked Das.

Peter Sayer of the IDG News Service contributed to this story.