Smart companies are investigating all of their software "support and maintenance" options. We believe it's important for you to have all the facts to make the right decision for you and your organization.

Early adopter clients want to stay on the leading or even bleeding edge of applications and technologies, investing in testing, fixing and growing the next generation of software. We see this now around several technologies and platforms, including Service Oriented Architecture (SOA), middleware and open source. If you and your organization strive to deploy every latest and greatest software release and update, it's possible alternative "support and maintenance" is not for you.

However the majority of customers, and many early adopters, are looking to minimize overall risk and maximize the return on their software investments through alternative "support and maintenance" while the next-generation of software winners and losers is determined.

Here are a few factors to consider when determining whether alternative "support and maintenance" is right for you:

Desire to Reduce Costs

• According to a Forrester Research survey, the number one IT initiative is reducing software costs in any way possible
• Software customers effectively re-buy their applications every 4–5 years through maintenance fees
• Maintenance fees can be reduced by 50 percent or more through alternative support
• Eliminate costly forced upgrades

Remain on Current Releases

• Highly functional, stable and customized to support your requirements
• Apply just the fixes you need as opposed to moving to the next release
• Eliminate paying up to a 20 percent penalty fee to stay on current releases under Oracle Lifetime Support¹

Seek Higher Level of Service

• Access to senior, experienced engineers
• Personalized service, not one-size-fits-all
• Faster response and fix times

Minimize Risk of Future Software Platforms

• Avoid risks of vendor lock-in and pre-funding of future software platforms
• Pay for support, not new development
• Evaluate next-generation software platforms after winners and loses are determined
• Maximize the return on current software investments until a business case exists for new systems
• Avoid adopting technology for technology's sake

If these factors ring true with you, then you should consider alternative support as part of your overall IT strategy.

Next Steps

¹ Oracle Corporation, Oracle Lifetime Support PDF C15219-01 August 2006