Oracle Announces 12 Founding Wireless Partners

Oracle Corp. (NASDAQ:ORCL) this week (Oct 17) announced the 12 founding partners in its initiative for Oracle9i Application Server Wireless Edition, unveiled Oct 2.

Cap Gemini Ernst & Young, eCal, GoAmerica, iXL, LPG Innovations, MapInfo, OracleMobile, Portal Software, Trintech, 24/7 Media, SignalSoft, Vignette and Xmarc have all joined up with Oracle’s Wireless Partner Initiative, created to help ISVs, ASPs and system integrators build wireless portals and internet applications that will wireless-enable e-businesses using Oracle9i AS Wireless Edition.

The open architecture of Oracle9i AS Wireless Edition allows participating partners to integrate their applications easily. This integration will offer customers a single middleware environment where personalized, location-based services; mobile commerce applications with interactive advertising; and e-mail, contact management or calendaring applications can easily be deployed onto wireless devices.

Partners are expected to enjoy a variety of business benefits by participating in Oracle’s Wireless Partner Initiative. By developing new, personalized, location-based services they will be able to generate new revenue streams. Because they now only need to develop applications once in order to make applications available on any wireless device, they will be able to reduce development costs. Finally, by developing and deploying on the open, integrated Oracle9i Application Server Wireless Edition platform, they will be able to shorten time-to-market, thereby bringing these new innovative applications to their customers more quickly.

Oracle9i AS Wireless Edition leverages Oracle’s Portal-to-Go technology to provide complete middleware for developing and deploying wireless Internet content and application services. The new version will include pre-built adapters for wireless e-mail and directory integration as well as enhanced support for location-based services – the key technology for creating the next generation of wireless commerce and logistical applications that deliver personalized services based on the user’s current location.

With the new support for wireless location-based services, Oracle is adding to its personalization capabilities. Using Oracle9i Application Server Wireless Edition, customers can quickly create services that are personalized by user, by device, and now by location. The new wireless capabilities are based on Oracle’s Spatial technology, which is already in use around the world for managing large volumes of highly specialized geographic data.

The new wireless services include geocoding, which taps into a wireless network that tracks the location of mobile devices to produce coordinates for street addresses, routing for mapping and directions and distance relationships between business and customer for “Yellow Page” applications. For example, a person using an application powered by Oracle9i Application Server Wireless Edition can step off a plane and immediately receive directions and locations for the nearest car rental agencies, hotels and restaurants using his or her mobile phone.

OracleMobile, a division of Oracle Corp. focused on the wireless internet industry, uses Oracle’s wireless application server software as a foundation of its wireless hosting services. Oracle9i Application Server Wireless Edition is scheduled to be available in December 2000.

See related ASP News story on InternetNews.com, Oracle Bows Upgraded Database, Oct 3rd 2000.