New Oracle App Server To Bolster Mobile Support, Toplink Integration

Oracle 9i Application Server Release 2 Version 9.0.4 will include a "full-fledged integration broker and business process monitor," said Thomas Kurian, senior vice president of application servers for Oracle, Redwood Shores, Calif.

Additionally the product will build in more wireless and voice enhancements with J2ME support. Java 2 Micro Edition is a version of Java for PDAs and other devices. The new app server will also support the emerging xHTML Web design language and Xforms, technology aimed at easing creation of pages that display well on many screen sizes.

The new Web server will also bring Toplink capabilities into its own stack, according to Oracle's web site. Oracle acquired Toplink, a tool that maps between Enterprise Java Beans (EJBs) and databases, from Webgain last June.

This release, first touted here at Oracle World, is due to ship in the first half of next year, said John Magee, vice president of Oracle 9i marketing.

Oracle's gameplan for the past year has been to build more "middleware" into its core products to ease integration at customer sites.

In this it contrasts itself with IBM, which groups a number of offerings under the WebSphere brand. "WebSphere is very complex...something like 129 products under that brand. Oracle 9iAS is a single product," Kurian said.

Resellers said Oracle is trying to expand its footprint beyond the database in corporate accounts and uproot "best of breed" vendors like BEA, and others in the process.

In a sign of closer ties to Hewlett-Packard, Oracle also said the current version fo the application server will be bundled with HP systems running HP-UX as well as Proliant servers.

Also at the show, Oracle beat the drum again for its Collaboration Suite, maintaining the offering will win business, even outside Oracle's database customers.

Oracle Collaboration Suite Version 2, due in the first half of 2003, will add whiteboarding, co-browsing and instant messaging to the existing voice-mail, e-mail, and unified search capabilities.

The $60 per user price includes "all the Oracle database and application server functionality you need," said Chuck Rozwatt, executive vice president of server technologies at Oracle. The vendor claimed the suite will let large customers consolidate servers and save money over competitive offerings. Oracle will also host the offering for an additional charge.

Rozwatt said Oracle supports its own 40,000 employees on one three-node Hewlett-Packard cluster running HP-UX but has seen impressive results on Linux/Intel boxes as well.

Oracle's contention is that its messaging platform will be more cost-effective than Microsoft Exchange Server or IBM's Lotus Domino. Whether solution providers agree depends on where they sit.

"Oracle's tried this before [to unseat Microsoft and Lotus with no success. I don't see what's different now," said one Midwestern messaging integrator who asked not to be named.

Marc Hebert, executive vice president at Oracle partner Sierra Atlantic, Fremont, Calif., said once the marketing kicks in, Collaboration Suite could be hot. "The biggest issue for Oracle right now is getting top-line growth and the Application Server and Collaboration Suite are their best opportunity," he said.