Oracle To Attack SMBs With Less Pricey Database

Oracle Standard Edition One, based on the current Oracle 9i code, will cost $5,995 and $195 per named user. It is limited to use on one-processor servers, the company said. Support and maintenance add an additional 22 percent of license cost and Oracle's eBusiness discounts apply, an Oracle spokeswoman said. So support and updates cost $1,319 on the one-CPU license and $214 per user for five named users.

This offering brings to three the total number of Oracle database editions. The Enterprise Edition costs $40,000 per processor for a perpetual license and $800 per named user. The Standard Edition is $15,000 per processor and $300 per named user.

Oracle has said that the next major release, Oracle 10g will ship by year's end and customers with up-to-date license and maintenance typically get the next major revision for no additional charge.

That puts the database in the same price range as IBM DB2 Express which sells for $499 per server plus $99 per named user not including support.

Microsoft SQL Server 2000, a huge force in mid-market accounts, costs $4,781 per processor for the standard edition or for $667 per server plus $146 per device.

Oracle pricing has been under huge scrutiny of late. The company is strong in big enterprise accounts but has struggled to price its database aggressively for departmental or small business use. This news acknowledges that fact.

At OracleWorld last month, Oracle chairman Larry Ellison said published price changes were imminent but those changes never materialized. Company watchers expected and still expect the company to offer more aggressive prices on its Real Application Clusters (RAC) which now cost an additional $10,000 per CPU above and beyond the database price.