19 July 2003

Oracle Collaboration Suite Release 2 is now available for download, initially for Unix and Linux and with Windows to follow. According to CNET News.com, "The latest version of Oracle's Collaboration Suite, released Thursday, targets companies looking for lower-cost alternatives to IBM's Lotus Notes and Microsoft's Exchange, according to Oracle executives. " This latest release of the product adds Oracle Web Conferencing to the features list, the first half of the planned realtime communications product equation, with Instant Messaging and presence awareness (free, busy, online/offline lists) due for Release 3 in early 2004. Oracle charges a onetime named user fee of $60 for the entire suite, or $15 for an annual license per user. Pricing includes the Collaboration Suite but only limited run-time licenses for Oracle 9i database and Oracle 9i Application Server, so you can't use the packaged database and app server for other purposes. There are various other licensing options, including licensing the Web Conferencing, Email or Calendering features on their own. Oracle have made a couple of white papers available for companies looking to migrate existing Exchange and Windows file server applications over to Collaboration Suite; Migrating your existing email system to Oracle Collaboration Suite Email? Migrating your users and files to Oracle Collaboration Suite Files? and there's a quick tour of the features of the product, together with a data sheet, over at OTN. 6:36:52 PM

According to The Register on Larry Ellison, "there are four types of technology company right now: companies with products based on a single area of functionality; single product companies; best-of-breed vendors; and integrated suites. But only one type is going to survive". 12:29:30 PM

An interesting day today for Oracle. According to Reuters, "Software maker Oracle Corp. on Wednesday said Chief Marketing Officer Mark Jarvis and George Roberts, the company's former head of North American sales, had resigned. Marketing will now report to Executive Vice President Charles Phillips, a former star software analyst at Morgan Stanley who joined Oracle in May. Roberts also resigned in a move that has been widely expected since September, when Keith Block was named executive vice president in charge of North American consulting and sales. Oracle also said that U.S. Army Lt. Gen. Joseph Kellogg has joined the company as a senior vice president in charge of Oracle's homeland security systems office. He will report to Senior Vice President Kevin Fitzgerald, who oversees sales to government, education and health care." The San Mateo Times reports ""Oracle's had an in-your-face marketing message," said Walter Price, who manages $500 million for Dresdner RCM Global Investors. He said he sold his Oracle shares since the PeopleSoft bid. "Now the environment is a lot more considered purchasing. People don't want you to be overstating your capabilities." On the same day, Peoplesoft seem to have wrapped up the J.D. Edwards deal. According to the BBC "US software firm PeopleSoft has completed a long-planned takeover of smaller rival JD Edwards. The company said it had bought up 88% of JD Edward's shares, and planned to acquire the rest by the end of August." The news about Mark Jarvis is very significant although it doesn't seem to have been picked up on by many of the tech sites. Jarvis was a significant player at Oracle and was often referred to as Larry Ellison's No.2, particularly following the departures of Ray Lane and Mark Bloom, and it'll be interesting to see how Charles Phillips plays things, especially as he's been so central to the Peoplesoft bid. 12:23:43 AM