A growing number of companies are replacing unique, customized, inflexible, and expensive home–grown information technology systems with more tailorable, integrated, and global enterprise software packages (sometimes known as enterprise resource planning or ERP systems). In some industries, notably the oil and chemicals sectors, these systems are now so pervasive that a company without one raises eyebrows. The widespread acceptance of German–based SAP, first in Europe and later in the United States, opened a wider market for traditional software suppliers such as SSA (BPCS) and J.D. Edwards, as well as newer entrants such as BAAN, Oracle, and PeopleSoft.