EDS, Oracle Extend Alliance

April 14, 2008

EDS and Oracle have extended their strategic alliance to develop and market software and solutions for tax and revenue agencies around the world.

The two technology leaders plan to aggressively target application-specific pursuits with tax and revenue agencies at all levels of government in the Americas, Europe, Middle East, and Asia Pacific regions. Oracle will provide software and product expertise. Through EDS’ recent acquisition of Saber Government Solutions, EDS will act as the integrator, providing IT services to implement Oracle’s products along with any other IT solutions required for clients’ individual needs.

Saber will add a tax product line to an extensive existing software and services portfolio, which includes Motor Vehicle Registration and Unemployment Insurance, Voter Registration, Health and Human Services, Justice & Public Safety, and Public Retirement programs. More than 100 Saber consultants in North America and India will be trained in 2008 on Oracle Enterprise Taxation Management products to support EDS’ global clients’ requirements.

“This agreement marks an industry-first, combining EDS’ unique ability to manage and deliver on a worldwide basis and Oracle’s products and expertise,” said Michael Coomer, EDS executive vice president and Oracle alliance executive sponsor. “We look forward to further enhance the EDS-Oracle relationship in 2008 through our global Oracle practice, to expand our collective ability to become our clients’ business ally.”

EDS has global experience in tax and revenue, through managing and developing systems for clients in the United States, Canada, Belgium, Australia, New Zealand and Mexico. EDS has unrivalled expertise in implementing large scale complex systems for governments and in the data conversion, scalability, security, architecture and integration complexities that are habitually found in that environment.

“Oracle offers a comprehensive suite of software to support the challenges of tax and revenue agencies worldwide,” said John Andrus, vice president, Oracle tax global business unit. “We are pleased to deepen our relationship with EDS and leverage its global implementation experience to help create new efficiencies in the tax and revenue industry worldwide.”

“Oracle’s Enterprise Taxation Management (ETM) system is a secure, tax-specific, commercial off-the-shelf software solution that enables tax and revenue authorities to optimize the revenue collection and billing processes,” said Charlie Feld, EDS senior executive vice president of applications services. “It provides a flexible, integrated alternative to custom-built systems that are expensive to maintain and difficult to adapt to new taxes and regulations. EDS will continue to work with Oracle to partner around specific industry verticals.”

This expanded go-to-market agreement will enable EDS and Oracle to overhaul and transform custom systems revenue and tax agencies put in place in the 1980s and 1990s. These systems now impose severe constraints on revenue and tax agencies. Historically, each tax type has had its own system, resulting in poor customer service, while hampering compliance activities. The combination of Oracle’s tax and revenue products with EDS’ large-scale implementation expertise will enable an innovative solution that consolidates information across tax and revenue sources, drives efficiencies and helps resolve the issues created by legacy systems.

Most recently, the Commonwealth of Kentucky selected the combined EDS and Oracle offering to create a comprehensive integrated tax system. The selection validates the strength of the partnership strategy between EDS and Oracle.

“The tax and revenue go-to-market strategy between EDS and Oracle opens up a tremendous growth opportunity for the two technology leaders,” said Bob Welch, group vice president and general manager at IDC Global Services. “The combination of Oracle's strength in the tax and revenue software space and EDS' global footprint and strong implementation experience showcases the continuing impact on the market of the EDS Agility Alliance.”