According to US reports, HP looks likely to sign a massive customer relationship management deal with Salesforce.com.

The deal is said to cater for around 35,000 to 40,000 seats, which could replace Oracle Siebel as its CRM provider.

It’s no secret that Oracle and HP haven’t been best friends since HP’s sacking of Mark Hurd, who later went on to join Oracle.

"HPQ is completely shutting down Oracle Siebel, which contacts tell us has made Oracle very furious. Contacts tell us that by moving to Salesforce, HP may be saving 40% - 50% over ORCL Siebel," Trip Chowdhry, an analyst at Global Equities Research told IBT.

Salesforce reportedly wants the deal done before its cloud computing Dreamforce event in early December.

If it is, Chowdhry says someone from HP will deliver the keynote announcing the deal at the event.