Oracle Will Keep Making Software for Itanium-Based Machines

Oracle Corp. (ORCL) said it will continue to develop software for computers that run on Intel Corp. (INTC)’s Itanium microprocessors, following a judge’s ruling that the company is contractually obligated to do so.

The Redwood City, California-based company previously said it would stop making new versions of its software for Itanium chips. Last month, a California judge agreed with Hewlett- Packard Co., a maker of Itanium-based machines, that Oracle made a commitment to support its servers running the chips. Oracle said at the time that it would appeal the ruling.

Hewlett-Packard sued Oracle in 2011, accusing the software maker of violating a portion of former Hewlett-Packard Chief Executive Officer Mark Hurd’s separation agreement describing a “reaffirmation of the Oracle-HP partnership.” One month after Hurd’s forced resignation in 2010, he was hired by Oracle CEO Larry Ellison to serve as co-president of the largest database- software maker. Oracle denied the claims.

Software for Hewlett-Packard’s Itanium computers will be rolled out on about the same schedule as programs for International Business Machines Corp. (IBM)’s Power Systems, Oracle said today in a statement.

Michael Thacker, a Hewlett-Packard spokesman, had no immediate comment on the ruling.

The case is Hewlett-Packard Co. v. Oracle Corp., 11- cv-203163, California Superior Court, Santa Clara County (San Jose).

To contact the reporter on this story: Jillian Ward in San Francisco at jward56@bloomberg.net

To contact the editor responsible for this story: Tom Giles at tgiles5@bloomberg.net