SAP Competitor Throws in the Towel

The air appears to be growing thinner for small suppliers of ERP software competing against industry giants SAP and Oracle.

Semiramis Software in Hanover, Germany, and Semiramis Software in Kirchbichl, Austria, have filed for bankruptcy protection, after failing to agree to a plan for turning around their loss-making operations, the companies said Thursday.

The companies, which belong to Austria’s KTW Software & Consulting, sought to differentiate themselves in the competitive ERP market by offering a product fully based on Java technology.

In recent months, both companies announced a string of new customer wins, including Just Leitern and SCO-Chemie.

Yet both struggled with profitability, confronted by growing competition in the small and midsize business market for ERP technology.

In August, the group’s chief software architect, Egon Steinkasserer, announced plans to leave the company at the end of the year.

Under a deal struck earlier with its two subsidiaries in the event of bankruptcy, KTW has the rights to the Semiramis name and an option to continue developing Semiramis software, the company said.

-John Blau, IDG News Service (Dusseldorf Bureau)

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