At the Oracle Applications User Group (OAUG) Conference, Oracle Corporation today announced that numerous customers have rapidly implemented Oracle`s enterprise business applications running on corporate intranets what Oracle calls Network Computing Architecture (NCA). Oracle also announced outstanding scalability and performance in a customer NCA benchmark result showing more than 3,000 concurrent users. Oracle has shipped Oracle Applications NCA to over 300 customer sites since it became available in January. Companies such as Knouse Foods, Sequent Computers, and Unitrin have already gone live with Oracle Applications NCA and have benefited from fast implementation, improved network performance with lower network costs, and centralized administration with corresponding decreases in administrative labor costs. Oracle Applications Customers Run on Corporate Intranets Oracle Applications NCA avoids the need to install client software on each user`s desktop by running all software on centralized servers using proven Internet standards and technology. As a result, companies using Oracle Applications NCA enjoy the full benefits of a graphical system without the administrative cost and complexity of traditional client/server systems. Customers with hundreds or thousands of users easily manage application deployment and upgrade without increasing IT staff. In addition, the tenfold network efficiency improvement provided by the Internet computing model lowers network costs and makes it easier to reach more users across far-flung locations. Unitrin, an insurance provider with over $5 billion in revenues, has implemented Oracle Applications on NCA and has realized benefits in only weeks. "With six different companies and more than a dozen physical locations, we were looking for a system that could be deployed quickly and with a minimal operational impact on our business," said Shahrad Shadeendian, director of database technology. "We tested our first NCA site for 30 days and went live just two weeks later. We`re now able to implement NCA at a site with a one-week test and a cut-over that takes just part of a weekend." Unitrin also values the ability to run Oracle`s NCA applications on its existing hardware and network infrastructure. "Traditional, client/server applications would have meant upgrading many of our desktops and significantly overhauling our network," said Shaheedian. "NCA runs on all of our existing machines and with surprisingly good performance. I was hoping it would be as fast as regular GUI applications but have found it to be even faster. We have users dialing in over 28.8 modems who are pleased with the performance." Cost Effective Access for Remote Applications Users The greater the scale of implementation, the greater the value customers find in the centralized administration and network efficiency of Oracle Applications NCA. According to Bob Witt, CIO of Sequent Computer, "We identified Oracle NCA as the best choice for running applications on a global basis. We have nearly 3,000 employees in 58 offices worldwide, many of which are purely sales offices. These locations need access to our applications, but it`s cost-prohibitive to provide IT support in each location. Oracle Applications on NCA connects our remote locations in a very cost-effective way." 3000 User Customer Benchmark Proves Scalability Oracle also announced benchmark results for Oracle Applications NCA, meeting performance and availability requirements for online transaction processing with extremely large numbers of users and high data volumes that correspond to demanding real world production environments. The benchmark studies were performed for The Norwegian Tax Administration, Skattedirektoratet, to replace several mainframe systems. The benchmark successfully tested 3,035 concurrent users performing a high-volume mix of invoice entry and online inquiries on customer information and account details. The configuration was comprised of Oracle NCA software and Hewlett-Packard (HP) hardware. An HP V-Class server running a 60 Gigabyte Oracle8 database and six HP K-Class application servers running Oracle Developer/2000 Server and Oracle Application Server provided the environment for the benchmark. Data sets of 4 million customers, 9 million invoices and 2.5 million payment transactions were used to simulate the customer`s production environment. During the test period 26,100 invoices/hour and 9,367 inquires/hour were processed. "This benchmark study underscores that the Network Computing Architecture is extremely scalable and supports mission critical applications," said Ron Wohl, senior vice president, Application Development at Oracle. "Furthermore, this benchmark validates that Oracle Applications NCA delivers on the promise of lower costs and increased access."
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