Dell, Oracle expand business-critical computing to small, medium customers in EMEA

Since the April 2004 launch of an exclusive go-to-market agreement, making Dell the first Oracle partner to deliver a shrink-wrap packaged offering of Oracle Standard Edition One shipped with Dell PowerEdge servers, Dell has witnessed strong endorsement of the offering among small and medium enterprises (SMEs) in Europe, Middle East and Africa (EMEA).

Oracle Standard Edition One factory installed on select PowerEdge servers enables SMEs to quickly and easily purchase and deploy standardised, business-critical databases, application servers and Oracle applications with proven performance, availability, security and reliability at a much lower price point than ever before.

Dell and Oracle`s goal of extending the benefits of enterprise-class standardised platforms to a broader customer set has resulted in many successful customer deployments. Among the growing number of customers in EMEA that are already enjoying the benefits of the package are UK companies: sports bookmaker Stan James and project management consultancy Turner Design Ltd. Others include silicon technology manufacturer, VTI Technologies in Finland, and the arm of outdoor media sales company, Viacom Outdoor in the Netherlands, demonstrating the European wide appeal of this offering.

Dawid Swanepoel, Professional Services Manager at Dell South Africa, says: "The Dell and Oracle initiative has enabled our SME customers to go to one point of contact to make it easy to purchase and own business-critical computing. Adoption has exceeded our expectations in EMEA, fulfilling our ongoing commitment to deliver affordable solutions to small and medium-sized businesses that are easy to deploy, manage and grow."

"Oracle Database 10g Standard Edition One is an offering designed to appeal to a wide range of companies and thus to increase the market penetration of Oracle Database," said Stein Surlien, Vice-President, Alliances and Channels, Oracle EMEA. "Dell is an ideal partner for us in this drive, as it already does great business in areas that Oracle has not historically been strong. The combination of the world`s leading direct hardware provider and the world`s best database software is one that has strong appeal to businesses of all sizes."

Stan James (UK) bets on Dell and Oracle

Stan James, UK bookmaker, has recently taken delivery of its new EPoS system from Finsoft Ltd. This state-of-the-art solution features a number of groundbreaking business benefits and is powered by Dell and Oracle both in the shops and at Stan James headquarters. "This event is also a significant first on another level; Dell and Oracle have not been used before in a UK bookmaker`s retail chain. So far, everyone is nothing short of pleased with the Dell systems and performance of Oracle," commented Richard Heade, IT Manager, Stan James.

Turner Design develops better business with Dell and Oracle

Turner Design Ltd is a small UK project management consultancy involved in product design, implementation and business transformation. Ian Turner, Operations Director at Turner Design Ltd, explained: "We are a platform-independent company and select products which best suit our needs. We use Oracle on Dell hardware as a cost-effective solution, for product development and for in-house project and resource management. Our clients in the legal and financial sectors on the other end of the scale use Oracle for high-end capacity, performance and resilience."

VTI Technologies senses better returns with Dell and Oracle

Finnish company, VTI Technologies is a world leader in the design and production of silicon capacitive acceleration, inclination and pressure sensors. VTI is an established, high volume supplier of MEMS sensors since 1991. VTI through its competence in physical phenomena of motion and pressure, sensor design and MEMS processes makes its partners successful in developing solutions that create safety and security, health and quality of life.

VTI has a production system, ERP system and HR system that are all based on Dell and Oracle technology.

Winning alliance for Viacom Outdoor BV with Dell and Oracle

Viacom Outdoor Netherlands is a high-energy sales and marketing company, passionate about creating and providing inspiring media solutions. Viacom Outdoor operates 49% of the outdoor market in the Netherlands including bus, tram, rail and roadside signage. Patrick Mast, ICT Manager, Viacom Outdoor BV, said: "The Dell/Oracle solution enables us to deploy business-critical applications easily and with increased manageability. The partnership means we have a scalable, fault tolerant Oracle system combined with Dell`s cost-effective, reliable hardware - a winning alliance."

Dell will exhibit at Oracle OpenWorld, London on stand 42. For further information about the event, please visit www.oracle.com/openworld/london

For more information about the Dell-Oracle alliance, please visit www.dell.com/oracle.