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"Oracle's Safra Catz led the company's latest charge against HP\nEarlier this week Oracle \n\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t\t\tORCL\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t issued an oddly-worded announcement saying it would halt all development on software compatible with Intel\u2019s \n\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t\t\tINTC\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t Itanium microprocessor, and took the opportunity to point out that HP \n\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t\t\tHPQ\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t CEO Leo Apotheker did not mention his plans for Itanium in a recent presentation on his company\u2019s roadmap. HP responded with its own news release, stating that it remains committed to Itanium-based server platforms and that Oracle\u2019s announcement was a \u201Cshameless gambit to limit fair competition.\u201D Oracle answered with yet another statement claiming HP is \u201Cknowingly withholding\u201D information from its Itanium customers.\nThe sparring continued on Thursday, during Oracle\u2019s quarterly earnings conference call with analysts. (Speaking of earnings, Oracle had another strong quarter&amp;#8211;profit surged 78% and sales rose 37%). CEO Larry Ellison wasn\u2019t on the call because he was serving on jury duty, so president Safra Catz delivered this quarter\u2019s official jab at HP. Catz said Oracle\u2019s hardware margins were strong and that the company\u2019s purchase of Sun Microsystems would deliver a $1.5 billion profit in the first fiscal year. By contrast, she implied that HP paid too much for 3PAR, a data storage provider it bought in 2010. \u201CAnd had we paid for Sun based on the HP 3PAR multiple, it would&amp;#8217;ve cost us nearly $140 billion,\u201D Catz told analysts. \u201CDon&amp;#8217;t worry, we wouldn&amp;#8217;t do that.\u201D\nHP and Oracle\u2019s tit-for-tat makes for entertaining fodder for those of us who cover (and follow) tech news. But what\u2019s behind this latest war of words?\nIt all started last year, when Oracle bought Sun Microsystems for $7.4 billion. The acquisition gave software giant Oracle a considerable hardware business. It also meant increasing competition with the likes of HP.\nOf course, the animosity only intensified when HP pushed out former CEO Mark Hurd last summer and Oracle\u2019s Ellison (also Hurd\u2019s tennis buddy) appointed him co-president at Oracle. Ellison publicly described HP\u2019s decision as the \u201Cworst personnel decision since the idiots on the Apple \n\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t\t\tAAPL\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t board fired Steve Jobs many years ago.\u201D And that\u2019s not all. Shortly after, HP named former head of SAP \n\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t\t\tSAP\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t Leo Apotheker as its new CEO. At the time, Oracle and SAP were in the midst of a tense copyright suit, and Ellison demanded that Apotheker be called to court as a witness (Apotheker never appeared in court but Oracle eventually won a $1.3 billion settlement from SAP).\nNow, the tech giants are back to duking it out over processors and servers. Oracle\u2019s latest announcement to stop software development on Itanium processors could end up hurting HP and its line of Itanium-based servers. Oracle claims its decision makes sense given that Intel\u2019s Itanium is nearing the end of its life, and that companies like Microsoft \n\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t\t\tMSFT\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t and Red Hat \n\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t\t\tRHT\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t have already stopped developing software for Itanium. But HP says Oracle is just trying to take out competitors in hopes of pushing its own line of servers and processors, which it inherited from Sun.\n\u201COracle continues to show a pattern of anti-customer behavior as they move to shore up their failing Sun server business,\u201D Dave Donatelli, an executive vice president at HP said in a press release. \u201CWe are shocked that Oracle would put enterprises and governments at risk while costing them hundreds of millions of dollars in lost productivity in a shameless gambit to limit fair competition.\u201D\nDo those sound like fighting words? Definitely. And I wouldn&amp;#8217;t expect either company to cry &amp;#8220;uncle&amp;#8221; anytime soon.\nMore from Fortune:\n\nMeet Groupon&amp;#8217;s groupies\nController-free everything\n5 sectors hit hardest by Japan&amp;#8217;s crisis\n\n\u00A0"^^<http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema#string>
<http://fortune.com/2011/03/25/oracle-vs-hp-the-sniping-continues/>