Oracle Corp., the largest provider of software for e-business, has put the finishing touches on its Internet Platform with the introduction of two major products, one for the fast-growing middleware market and the other for the rapidly expanding community of Internet developers.
The new products, Oracle Internet Application Server 8i (Oracle iAS) and Oracle Internet Developer Suite, join the industry-leading Oracle 8i database to make the Oracle Internet Platform the most comprehensive e-business technology platform available.
Now, with this expanded Oracle Internet Platform and the recently shipped Oracle E-Business Suite 11i enterprise applications, Oracle offers complete software products that can run any e-business, handling virtually any e-business requirement for enterprises of any size. All of Oracle`s software products are based on the latest Java and XML standards.
Oracle also announced simplified offerings and standardized pricing for Oracle Support. All of Oracle`s software products and support services are easily purchased online through the Oracle Store.
These new offerings represent the completion of a project Oracle began five years ago to redesign and rearchitect its entire product line for the Internet, and to bring to market additional products that would provide everything needed to operate as an e-business.
The middleware and application development products announced today represent the culmination of this effort, which has already resulted in Oracle`s being the first vendor to offer web-enabled enterprise applications (beginning in March 1996 with Oracle Self-Service Applications for the Web) and the first to provide a database for Internet computing (Oracle8i, shipped in March 1999).
"The demands to compete in the Internet Economy are prompting companies to move to a more standardized technology platform," said William Zachmann, vice president with META Group.
"In doing so, companies reduce some of the costs and complexities of their IT infrastructure and are able to put an emphasis on applying technology to achieve a marketplace leadership. Platforms that bring together the major aspects of data management, application deployment and development, such as Oracle`s Internet Platform, help customers focus more on the advantages of e-business."
Complete Products Eliminate Piecemeal Integration Challenges
Oracle iAS and Oracle Internet Developer Suite each combine in single packages fully integrated suites of products that perform comprehensive functions previously available only through multiple products from multiple vendors.
Oracle iAS is not only a powerful application Server, but it includes all the middleware and server-based application functionality needed by virtually any e-business, including:
Business intelligence
Dynamic data caching
Forms services
Component services (eg, support for Enterprise Java Beans)
Portal services
Application integration services
No current middleware vendor offers functionality for all of these areas, let alone in one product.
Similarly, Oracle Internet Developer Suite includes all of the design tools a developer would need to develop virtually any e-business application, including:
Enterprise Portal development tool
Web-based report builder
Web-based Online Analytical Processing (OLAP) query tool
Web-based forms design tool
Java development environment and design tool
In addition to providing both Oracle iAS and Oracle Internet Developer Suite as complete products, Oracle is substantially reducing their prices in comparison to the cost of purchasing individual components separately.
For example, Oracle iAS includes superior functionality for half the price of its closest application server competitor, while Oracle Internet Developer Suite includes all the functionality of widely adopted Oracle development products such as WebDB, Oracle Reports, Oracle Discoverer, Oracle Developer and JDeveloper for a fraction of what these products previously cost individually.
As e-businesses move their data and applications to the Web, managing and delivering the right information to the right people has become a major challenge. This week, Oracle introduced Oracle Portal, software which spans the Internet Platform and which is included as an integral part of Oracle iAS and Oracle Internet Developer Suite.
Oracle Portal offers e-businesses a simple framework to manage hundreds of different software services for employees, trading partners or suppliers. Using Oracle Portal, e-businesses no longer have to produce numerous web sites for different audiences, and users no longer have to look in a variety of different places to get the information and applications they need on a daily basis.
As part of a complete update to its Internet Platform software, Oracle also announced Oracle8i Release 3, the third generation of the industry`s leading Internet database. Oracle8i Release 3 will introduce new XML, Java and security features, improving upon an already superior database technology.
Finally, Oracle announced it is simplifying its world-class support portfolio to include Product Support and Premium Support alongside the previously announced Updates Subscription Service and Incident Support.
Oracle is also standardizing Support Services pricing based on a percentage of licensing fees. Extending its lead in delivering e-business support, Oracle offers 24x7 services to all its customers as well as the ability to purchase services online through the Oracle Store.
"Before today, IT departments trying to adopt a middleware and development tools strategy have faced horrendous complexity. They have had to assemble tools and technologies from multiple vendors without instructions. Far too often the result has been mission-critical projects plagued by huge, unexpected costs and frequent, unforeseen delays," said Gary Bloom, Oracle executive vice president.
"Today we launch a new era in which technology is sold as integrated, complete products that work together seamlessly. The days of the piecemeal platform are over. Oracle offers all the technology a company needs to become an e-business - today."
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