July 7th, 2004
Up close: SAP's CEO
Since taking the reins of Germany’s SAP last year, Henning Kagermann has hardly had a dull moment. First, rivals PeopleSoft and J.D. Edwards agreed to merge. Then Oracle, SAP’s top competitor, launched an unsolicited bid for PeopleSoft — a bid that sent waves through the IT industry, landed Oracle in court, and spurred Microsoft to approach SAP about a merger. Those talks didn’t get very far, but their existence underscored just how much this segment of the software industry is in upheaval. Kagermann recently talked to News.com about his brief courtship with Microsoft, his competitor’s antitrust woes, and why it’s tough to innovate when a company has 20,000 CIOs to keep happy.
Dan Farber, editor-in-chief of CNET News.com, has more than 20 years of experience as an editor and journalist covering technology. See his full profile and disclosure of his industry affiliations.
