Oracle Completes Acquisition of Phase Forward

Oracle and Phase Forward executives offered their welcome as Phase Forward officially becomes part of the Oracle Health Sciences Global Business Unit.

The Webex conference for customers and partners this morning allowed Neil de Crescenzo, Senior Vice President and General Manager, Oracle Health Sciences, to provide Oracle's overarching strategy in regard to IT in all vertical markets. He then drilled down into its strategy for the Health Sciences unit, which is based on the ultimate convergence of life sciences and healthcare processes into translational and personalized medicine--and specifically using the efficiencies of data interoperability as necessary to achieve the goals.

From Phase Forward's perspective, both Steve Rosenberg, Senior Vice President, Products and Services, and Steve Powell, Senior Vice President Global Sales and Marketing, presented the benefits of the merger for customers. The main takeaway from Rosenberg for Phase Forward customers was that their "investment protected and their services intact."

In the new structure, customers will be able to take advantage of Oracle's Applications Unlimited, which offers customers basically whatever they choose moving forward..stay on the existing platform, upgrade or update to others, etc.

Powell reiterated that the merger was transformational in the industry and that by choosing Phase Forward, Oracle emphasizes the need of its applications within this industry, which will command a significant level of investment in the coming years.

Powell said that all upcoming Oracle and Phase Forward events this year are unaffected by the purchase. These events include Oracle's Open World, on September 19-23 in San Francisco, the Prix Galien on September 28 in New York City, Oracle Health Sciences User Group Annual Conference on October 10-13 in San Antonio, TX, and the Phase Forward International Users Conference in Orlando on October 26-28.