Oracle set to release seven SaaS offerings

Selling on-demand software becomes more appealing in a recession owing to customers' needs for services that give fast time to value, avoid IT expenses and limit licensing costs.

Although Oracle would not comment on the report, the company's recent actions indicate that it has positively embraced web-based software.

The company unveiled CRM On Demand Release 16 in January, and launched a new product that manages corporate supply processing, Oracle Sourcing On Demand, in March. Oracle currently lists 4.5 million end users of its on-demand software.

Oracle chief executive Larry Ellison said during an earnings call in June 2008 that on-demand services were not profitable enough, although he admitted that this would change over time.

At that point Oracle offered only a limited number of online products, such as Siebel Systems and on-demand versions of Oracle Hyperion and business intelligence applications.