Oracle Corporation has launched a new online service that lets business customers create a business home page, or portal, using a Web browser and an array of graphical tools.
By using Portal.Oracle.com, business customers don`t have to buy and maintain their own servers and software. "Instead, customers create their portal on the Oracle-hosted service and can add their own content, applications, and service, called portlets, from some 80 application vendors and Internet content vendors who are partnering with Oracle," says Alan Saunders, Portal Product Manager, at Oracle SA.
"Portal.Oracle.com provides the same environment used by top e-commerce and Fortune 100 companies in the world - whether it`s a small company without IT resources or a large company which wants to outsource.
"Not only does Portal.Oracle.com alleviate the need for maintenance infrastructure, but it offers an easy to use intuitive development environment, which allows business users to create their own applications and publish content," Saunders says.
"The subscription model which enables customers to pay only for the suite of services they want, alleviates the need for large capital outlay for start-up enterprises - a major barrier to entry for small businesses. Therefore Portal.Oracle.com can add significant value to this market segment in South Africa."
Saunders advises that the basic Portal.Oracle.com service is free for the first three months, thereafter customers pay a monthly fee. Customers will also pay for a mix of additional services they want to appear on the portal they create, such as Oracle`s online sales application, OracleSalesOnline.
"The new service, available now, is based on the current 9i release of the Oracle Applications Server, and the 8i release of the Oracle database. Customers work with a browser and a new set of graphical wizards created for Oracle`s development tool products. Portal Online Studio is for building the home pages, and OracleMobile Online Studio, is for building mobile applications for various handheld devices."
Saunders adds that in a related announcement, Oracle is converting its Oracle Technology Network, an online community of more than a million application developers using Oracle products, into a free hosted service.
"Application developers will be able to access the service and work together to build, test, and deploy Internet applications for corporate portals and for handheld devices, using the same development tools mentioned above," Saunders adds.
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