In yet another bid to unify its diverse collection of enterprise applications, Infor today unveiled a new product integration strategy and strategic partnership that will see the company standardize its ERP offerings on several Microsoft software infrastructure technologies.
Infor said it will standardize on a wide range of Microsoft technologies, including Silverlight graphical user interface tools, SharePoint portal tools, the Microsoft SQL Server database platform, its Reporting Services for business intelligence and analytics, Single Sign-On tools, and Windows Server operating system.
At the same time, Infor announced plans to roll out Infor ION, an enterprise integration architecture that will tie together its applications using a loosely coupled document sharing approach. Besides integrating Infor’s existing applications, ION will support many of the Microsoft technologies in the Infor environment, including Microsoft Reporting Services.
Both the ION rollout and the Microsoft partnership are intended to solve a set of long-standing challenges for Infor and its customers. Infor has grown largely through acquisition. While the strategy has enabled the company to become the third-largest provider of enterprise applications, with annual revenue estimated at roughly $2 billion, it has created a product line comprising disparate applications that lack integration and common features, such as a single graphical user interface, unified reporting services, and a single sign-on capability. At the same time, like many enterprise applications providers, Infor faces the challenge of integrating its on-premise products with a rapidly proliferating universe of cloud-based applications.