May 15, 2014
Accenture to Expand Its Oracle Engineered Systems Capabilities with Acquisition of Enkitec
Acquisition of leading Oracle Exadata integrator will enhance Accenture’s ability to help clients optimize their Oracle-based solutions
DALLAS, Texas; May 15, 2014 – Accenture (NYSE: ACN) has entered into an agreement to acquire Enkitec, an Oracle Platinum partner and a worldwide leader in Oracle Exadata implementations and Oracle database administration and development. The acquisition will bring Enkitec’s significant depth and breadth of expertise and specialization to Accenture’s Oracle business and will help simplify solution implementation, increase productivity and accelerate time to value with Oracle engineered systems for clients. Accenture will be well-positioned to help clients transform their data centers and business applications utilizing Oracle database technologies to improve performance, reduce costs and support innovation. Terms of the transaction were not disclosed.
Enkitec is a global systems integrator specializing in the delivery of Oracle database technologies and customized end-to-end services for Oracle Engineered Systems. Oracle Engineered Systems combine Oracle’s applications and database technology, pre-integrated onto a single hardware platform to enable innovations at every layer of the stack. This can help clients significantly improve performance and reduce costs associated with deploying, running and supporting an IT environment. Enkitec has more than 70 highly skilled Oracle technology and Oracle Engineered Systems consultants, including 13 Oracle ACEs. The Oracle ACE Program recognizes individuals who demonstrate elite technical proficiency and make significant contributions in their respective Oracle communities.
“The Enkitec team has the largest concentration of talent at this level of specialization in Oracle Engineered Systems in the market today and adding their industry-leading capabilities will be a game-changer for our Oracle business,” said Derek Steelberg, global managing director of Oracle business for Accenture. “Demand for Oracle Engineered Systems is rapidly growing as more companies look to capitalize on the exceptional price performance of this technology, drive market differentiation, improve customer relationships and respond dynamically to changes in the marketplace. This acquisition, combined with Accenture’s Intelligent Infrastructure capability, will enhance our ability to help clients transform their data centers and accelerate time to value from their Oracle technology investments.”
Enkitec employees will join Accenture’s global Infrastructure Services business and become part of the company’s previously announced strategic initiative to bring the performance and flexibility of Oracle Engineered Systems to clients more quickly and cost-effectively. They will join a team of consultants who combine their experience with proprietary and field-tested methodologies and tools to reduce total cost of data center ownership through significant consolidation of servers, storage and networking components. Together they will focus on the design and implementation of Engineered Systems-enabled offerings such as Database Migrations, Enterprise-wide Database Transformations, Database-as-a-Service, Oracle Applications on Engineered Systems, and cloud-based solutions leveraging Engineered Systems technologies. This team is also backed by Accenture’s 17,000 Infrastructure Services professionals and 52,000 Oracle professionals.
Kerry Osborne, chief technology officer and co-founder of Enkitec, said: “We are excited about joining Accenture. Combining our technical strength in Oracle’s Engineered Systems and database technologies with Accenture’s deep customer relationships will open up a myriad of opportunities to better support our joint clients. Accenture also has significant experience in areas such as complete infrastructure outsourcing or performing full data center consolidation for clients utilizing Oracle’s Engineered Systems.”
Accenture plans to leverage Enkitec’s robust Engineered Systems lab, which includes an in-house Hadoop cluster with an Oracle Big Data Appliance, several generations of Oracle Exadata, Oracle Exalytics and Oracle Database Appliance. Accenture will consolidate its Accenture Oracle Engineered Systems Center of Excellence capabilities into the Enkitec Lab to support demonstrations and proof-of-concept activities for clients.
Enkitec was named Engineered Systems Partner of the Year at the 2013 U.K. Oracle User Group Partner of the Year Awards. They also received 2013 Oracle Excellence Awards in the areas of Energy and Financial Services for North America.
Accenture has more than 52,000 Oracle-skilled consultants around the world who help clients achieve high performance with Oracle solutions by enabling distinctive business capabilities that support competitive advantage in their industry. With its extensive capabilities in the entire portfolio of Oracle’s hardware and software offerings, Accenture has built a number of assets to complement Oracle Engineered Systems including the Accenture Center of Excellence for Oracle Engineered Systems. Accenture has teamed with Oracle for more than two decades and is a Diamond-level member in Oracle PartnerNetwork (OPN) – the highest level available.
Accenture Infrastructure Services offers a portfolio of transformational services that help organizations design, build and run intelligent infrastructures to better serve customers, collaborate and innovate more effectively and reduce costs more predictably. Its end-to-end infrastructure services — from data center and workplace to network, security and operations –- help clients harness the power of emerging technologies while getting the most out of their legacy environments. By standardizing, consolidating, automating and integrating their infrastructures across on premise and cloud environments, Accenture helps clients lay the foundation for an agile, secure digital business that can anticipate and quickly react to dynamic business needs, driving competitive advantage and high performance.
About Accenture
Accenture is a global management consulting, technology services and outsourcing company, with approximately 289,000 people serving clients in more than 120 countries. Combining unparalleled experience, comprehensive capabilities across all industries and business functions, and extensive research on the world’s most successful companies, Accenture collaborates with clients to help them become high-performance businesses and governments. The company generated net revenues of US$28.6 billion for the fiscal year ended Aug. 31, 2013. Its home page is www.accenture.com.
Forward-Looking Statements
Except for the historical information and discussions contained herein, statements in this news release may constitute forward-looking statements within the meaning of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. Words such as “may,” “will,” “should,” “likely,” “anticipates,” “expects,” “intends,” “plans,” “projects,” “believes,” “estimates,” “positioned,” “outlook” and similar expressions are used to identify these forward-looking statements. These statements involve a number of risks, uncertainties and other factors that could cause actual results to differ materially from those expressed or implied. These include, without limitation, risks that: the transaction might not achieve the anticipated benefits for the company; the company’s results of operations could be adversely affected by volatile, negative or uncertain economic conditions and the effects of these conditions on the company’s clients’ businesses and levels of business activity; the company’s business depends on generating and maintaining ongoing, profitable client demand for the company’s services and solutions, and a significant reduction in such demand could materially affect the company’s results of operations; if the company is unable to keep its supply of skills and resources in balance with client demand around the world and attract and retain professionals with strong leadership skills, the company’s business, the utilization rate of the company’s professionals and the company’s results of operations may be materially adversely affected; the markets in which the company competes are highly competitive, and the company might not be able to compete effectively; the company’s profitability could suffer if its cost-management strategies are unsuccessful, and the company may not be able to improve its profitability through improvements to cost-management to the degree it has done in the past; the company’s results of operations could materially suffer if the company is not able to obtain sufficient pricing to enable it to meet its profitability expectations; if the company’s pricing estimates do not accurately anticipate the cost, risk and complexity of the company performing its work or third parties upon whom it relies do not meet their commitments, then the company’s contracts could have delivery inefficiencies and be unprofitable; the company could have liability or the company’s reputation could be damaged if the company fails to protect client and/or company data or information systems as obligated by law or contract or if the company’s information systems are breached; the company’s results of operations and ability to grow could be materially negatively affected if the company cannot adapt and expand its services and solutions in response to ongoing changes in technology and offerings by new entrants; as a result of the company’s geographically diverse operations and its growth strategy to continue geographic expansion, the company is more susceptible to certain risks; the company’s Global Delivery Network is increasingly concentrated in India and the Philippines, which may expose it to operational risks; the company might not be successful at identifying, acquiring or integrating businesses or entering into joint ventures; the company’s work with government clients exposes the company to additional risks inherent in the government contracting environment; the company’s business could be materially adversely affected if the company incurs legal liability; the company’s results of operations could be materially adversely affected by fluctuations in foreign currency exchange rates; the company’s alliance relationships may not be successful or may change, which could adversely affect the company’s results of operations; outsourcing services and the continued expansion of the company’s other services and solutions into new areas subject the company to different operational risks than its consulting and systems integration services; the company’s services or solutions could infringe upon the intellectual property rights of others or the company might lose its ability to utilize the intellectual property of others; if the company is unable to protect its intellectual property rights from unauthorized use or infringement by third parties, its business could be adversely affected; the company’s ability to attract and retain business and employees may depend on its reputation in the marketplace; many of the company’s contracts include payments that link some of its fees to the attainment of performance or business targets and/or require the company to meet specific service levels, which could increase the variability of the company’s revenues and impact its margins; changes in the company’s level of taxes, and audits, investigations and tax proceedings, or changes in the company’s treatment as an Irish company, could have a material adverse effect on the company’s results of operations and financial condition; if the company is unable to manage the organizational challenges associated with its size, the company might be unable to achieve its business objectives; if the company is unable to collect its receivables or unbilled services, the company’s results of operations, financial condition and cash flows could be adversely affected; the company’s share price and results of operations could fluctuate and be difficult to predict; the company’s results of operations and share price could be adversely affected if it is unable to maintain effective internal controls; any changes to the estimates and assumptions that the company makes in connection with the preparation of its consolidated financial statements could adversely affect its financial results; the company may be subject to criticism and negative publicity related to its incorporation in Ireland; as well as the risks, uncertainties and other factors discussed under the “Risk Factors” heading in Accenture plc’s most recent annual report on Form 10-K and other documents filed with or furnished to the Securities and Exchange Commission. Statements in this news release speak only as of the date they were made, and Accenture undertakes no duty to update any forward-looking statements made in this news release or to conform such statements to actual results or changes in Accenture’s expectations.
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Contact:
Peter Y. Soh
Accenture
+ 703 947 2571
peter.y.soh@accenture.com
Julie Bennink
Accenture
+ 312 693 7301
julie.l.bennink@accenture.com