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When Microsoft Corp. entered the market for customer relationship management software last year, analysts said it wouldn't be long before the software giants existing partners in the CRM sector showed their anxiety.
That time may be at hand.
Last week Redmond-based Microsoft and Siebel Systems Inc. of San Mateo, Calif. - one of Microsoft's largest customers and partners - announced the end of a three-year distribution deal for Great Plains Siebel Front Office, a combined CRM and accounting application for mid-sized companies.
Microsoft and Siebel officials maintain the deal simply wasn't as lucrative as they'd originally hoped, but industry experts think it could be the first signs of trouble between the two large software companies.
"If Microsoft is going to compete with Siebel in the CRM business, then there isn't much incentive for Siebel to cooperate with Microsoft," said Matt Rosoff, an analyst with Directions on Microsoft Inc., a Kirkland market research firm that tracks Microsoft.
Rosoff said Microsofts relationship with Siebel isn't the only one at risk - Microsoft also works closely in the CRM sector with Bellevue-based...