Oracle Corp, the world`s largest enterprise software company, announced today that it has struck a strategic partnership with the UK`s Office of Government Commerce (OGC), that will allow UK public sector organisations to replace legacy software systems with Oracle technology, thereby enabling them to increase the levels of service to citizens, while also reducing the costs associated with older systems. This is the first agreement of its kind between the UK government and Oracle.
"This is a landmark agreement in which we will work in close partnership with the UK government to develop standardised, more secure software systems for the entire public sector," said Lawrence J Ellison, Oracle Chairman and Chief Executive Officer. "Our aim is to help the UK government deliver superior service to its citizens through improved technology, while reducing the costs associated with highly customised software systems and the duplication of effort that now occurs across multiple public sector organisations."
"Support from the whole of the public sector was critical in developing a strong position for our negotiations," said Peter Gershon, chief executive of OGC. Transparency is an essential part of this approach. Oracle`s new pricing customer guide structure will ensure that the public sector achieves maximum value for money on all products with Oracle."
Public sector organisations within the UK have previously made individual arrangements with Oracle for their software requirements and have customised the software in line with their individual needs. The new arrangements commit Oracle and the UK government to work together on ways of developing standardised systems based on common requirements.
According to the OGC, this new agreement will bring significant benefits by cutting back on costly customisation of systems, duplication of effort, and will help to deliver IT systems that work, contributing significantly to the government`s delivery agenda.
In addition, the new arrangement will bring much greater transparency to the pricing of Oracle software, leading to significant process efficiencies. Oracle is offering 1.7 million public sector users access to the same advantageous software pricing it has established with the US government, with whom it has a 25-year partnership.
At the same time, the agreement allows any UK public sector organisation to standardise on Oracle`s Unbreakable Software Infrastructure, which includes its Oracle9i Database and Oracle9i Application Server, at pre-agreed prices. The agreement also will enable the UK government to take advantage of Oracle`s leading database clustering technology and the low-cost Linux operating system, which gives customers additional choice on the lowest-cost hardware platform.
The three-year agreement will be applied to all orders by the UK government placed on or after 1 February 2003, expiring 31 March 2006.
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