Infor unveils a CRM application for mid-market companies that borrows much of its functionality from Microsoft Dynamics, and says a manufacturing-specific version will soon follow.

The customer relationship management software appears in beta status, with SaaS and on-premises versions available in advance of the official release of Dynamics CRM 2011 later this year.

The software giant purchases manufacturing-specific technology from a reseller partner and plans to make the functionality available to the broader Dynamics AX reseller community.

The addition of material requirements planning provides an end-to-end manufacturing ERP system offered on-premise or in the cloud.

Hungry for customers in this embattled economy, technology suppliers turn to cheap financing deals to lure purchasing decisions; but beware the credit check.

Compiere has taken its cross-industry ERP system and added manufacturing-specific functionality in the latest release of its open source software.

With its three-quarters-of-a-billion-dollar bid for Axon, an SAP systems integrator, the Indian IT provider Infosys looks to expand its SAP consulting business.

Looking to support the increasingly global nature of business for small and mid-size manufacturers, Microsoft announces availability of AX 2009.

At its annual Dynamics user conference, Redmond reveals details of the latest release of its AX ERP product, due out in the first half of this year.

Following in the footsteps of numerous enterprise applications vendors, the mid-market specialist plans a new release that aggregates all its applications on a common SOA.