As The VAR Guy expected, former Hewlett-Packard CEO Mark Hurd (pictured), now co-president of Oracle, is confirmed to keynote Oracle OpenWorld (Sept. 19-23, San Francisco). The conference, which attracts thousands of Oracle partners and customers, should deliver plenty of drama. Amid the public feud between HP and Oracle, HP Executive VP Ann Livermore also remains confirmed to speak at the conference. Here are the details.

Check the Oracle OpenWorld agenda and you’ll find Hurd scheduled to speak on Sept. 20. Former HP Co-President Charles Phillips, whom Hurd replaces, has been removed from the agenda. Phillips left Oracle a few weeks after Oracle dismissed his public M&A statements, notes InformationWeek’s Bob Evans. And HP’s Livermore — a potential candidate to replace Hurd as HP’s CEO — remains confirmed to speak on September 19.

Ah, The VAR Guy couldn’t have written a better script himself. The drama. The timing. The personalities. Oracle CEO Larry Ellison has publicly threatened to halt the Oracle-HP relationship. Ellison’s threat surfaced after HP sued to block Hurd from joining Oracle. Legal experts tell BusinessWeek that it’s highly unlikely HP can block Hurd’s move to Oracle.

Still, acting HP CEO Cathie Lesjak seems to have offered an olive branch of sorts to Oracle and joint customers, suggesting that the Oracle-HP partnership will resume normalcy once the current feud over Hurd’s employment status is resolved. According to TheStreet.com, Lesjak told a New York audience yesterday:

“As you can imagine, with the press that Ellison had yesterday, it strained it a bit. At the end of the day, business will prevail — we believe that HP is important to Oracle and Oracle is an important partner of ours.”

Back In the Spotlight

Meanwhile, Oracle isn’t standing still. When Hurd takes the stage on September 20, it’s safe to expect him to describe how Oracle’s total solutions — hardware and software — stack up against HP and IBM. Ironically, Hurd earlier this year at the HP Americas Partner Conference told VARs how HP would beat IBM, Dell and Cisco in the market. Now, Hurd will need to refine his message for Oracle’s audience.

Also of interest: How will HP’s Ann Livermore remain on message at Oracle OpenWorld? Here’s a rather interesting possibility: Will HP name Livermore (or another candidate) as HP’s new CEO in time for Oracle OpenWorld?

The answers will surface later this month. And The VAR Guy intends to pull up a front-row seat for the show.

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