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On April 24, 2007, Oracle announced our agreement to acquire LODESTAR Corporation ("LODESTAR"), a leading provider of meter data management and competitive energy operation solutions.
We expect the transaction to close in May 2007, subject to certain closing conditions. Until such time, each company will continue to operate independently. We would like to take this opportunity to pledge our continued commitment to the success of your business and to outline the benefits we expect this transaction to deliver.
LODESTAR delivers best-in-class meter data management, commercial & industrial (C&I) billing, load research, load forecasting & pricing, load profiling, and settlement and transaction management solutions to the utilities industry.
For over 25 years, LODESTAR has had a long history of helping utilities around the world enhance customer service,
improve operations, better compete, and achieve excellence in business performance. LODESTAR is headquartered in Peabody, Massachusetts and has assembled a world-class team focused on utilities solutions.
Oracle and LODESTAR have complementary products with a shared focus that information and adaptive business processes are keys to achieving corporate revenue and profitability goals. After the closing of the transaction,
Oracle plans to accelerate the pace of innovation and integration of LODESTAR's products. The strengths of LODESTAR's solutions for utilities are planned to be combined with Oracle's industry leading database, middleware,
and enterprise applications, including Oracle Utilities applications acquired through SPLWorldGroup. Combined, we plan to deliver the most comprehensive suite of mission critical operational systems for all segments of the utilities industry, combining meter data management, load profiling, pricing,
marketing, sales, customer care, billing, analytics and management of the networks, work force, assets, and business to business transactions. We are also committed to supporting our respective customers, which include over 2,500
utilities worldwide, and 10 of the top 10 Global electric and gas companies.
We anticipate that the proposed combination will provide many key benefits to our partners after the closing of the transaction:
- Work with a single vendor to address customer needs for meter data management, revenue and operations management, CRM, ERP, analytics and infrastructure across all utilities segments: Oracle partners are expected to benefit from LODESTAR's
best-in-class solutions for meter data and energy operations management. LODESTAR partners are expected to benefit from Oracle's worldwide resources and partner ecosystem, as well as preserve their investments and experience with
LODESTAR products. Both companies' partners should benefit from the complementary solutions that create the most complete end-to-end packaged enterprise software suite for the utilities industry.
- Industry needs addressed in a dynamic environment: By combining the talents of both organizations, we should be better able to address evolving partner and customer needs, and effectively respond to industry trends that are driving the demand for customer-centric, cost effective solutions.
- Expanded opportunity for System Integrator partners: System Integrators specializing in utilities should now have the opportunity to provide world-class solutions to customers with an expanded application footprint and strengthened go-to-market capabilities through Oracle's global sales force.
- Continued commitment to support Independent Software Vendor relationships: Oracle plans to broaden existing ISV and developer partnerships and establish new partnerships to complete the combined footprint. Oracle will work to develop joint product roadmaps with our customers that include customer-driven requirements.
Oracle is committed to helping other utility ISVs with the provision of Oracle's infrastructure software, including our relational database, middleware, and analytics. Oracle is also committed to helping enable integrations between utility ISVs and Oracle's other enterprise applications.
We are excited about this acquisition and how it will accelerate innovation in the utilities industry. More information about the transaction can be found at oracle.com/LODESTAR.
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