Shell enters global enterprise application market as a vendor

The Shell Group is entering the global enterprise application market as a vendor. The company's IT services arm, Shell Services International, is to introduce its first offering, a data warehouse product called Kalido that's aimed at the utilities, pharmaceutical, consumer-packaged goods, and financial-services markets.
Shell partnered with Andersen Consulting, Business Objects, application integrator Constellar, Seagate Software, and a number of vertical-industry specialists to bring the product to market.
Kalido, used in more than 80 Shell sites world-wide, requires Oracle7.3, Oracle8, or Oracle8i, running on Windows NT or Unix. A global consumer-packaged goods company has signed on as the first commercial customer for Kalido, Shell says, but it declined to name the company.

Shell says that its understanding of the complex requirements of large businesses will help it succeed in this market. "Businesses have been held hostage by software vendors that dictate the business models that should be used with data warehousing products," says Linda Hickman, business development manager at Shell Services International (SSI). "But the product we developed has to work with the rich business portfolio of Shell. No other vendor or product can offer that kind of insight or rich functionality. "
Hickman, formerly Oracle's director of strategy and development for financial services, says data warehousing is just a start. "We will partner with a host of other vendors to bring out a series of products that have been developed within SSI, including customer-relationship management systems, supply chain, and E-commerce," she says.
But some analysts question the oil and gas company's move into the IT market. "The danger is that a commercial company will suffer from the divided loyalties of its business and customer needs," says an analyst.
Kalido starts at $ 300,000 per server for the basic architecture. It ships June 30.