Oracle has begun a drive to lure users from Microsoft Exchange as
the deadline for the Microsoft Software Assurance upgrade offer
looms.
Oracle is plans to introduce its Collaboration Suite, comprising
calendar, real-time conferencing, email, file system support,
voicemail and workflow in one software package, by the end of the
year.
Users can access the Oracle Collaboration Suite through Microsoft
Outlook, a Web user interface, voice, wireless devices and
fax.
Oracle said its software would offer a price challenge to
Microsoft, which is introducing its new Software Assurance
licensing programme at the end of this month.
The introductory price for a perpetual licence of Oracle
Collaboration Suite is $60 per named user, regardless of the number
of devices an individual uses to access information. Oracle claims
the licence is cheaper than Microsoft's Enterprise Agreement Core
Client Access Licence, which costs $67 per device accessing the
server.
The Oracle software could provide users with a viable alternative
to Microsoft, especially where the desktop environment comprises
non-Windows systems.
Pat Leach, IT director at drug discovery firm Inpharmatica, said
Oracle could prove a credible alternative to the MS Exchange
server.
Leach manages a Linux server farm and a mixed desktop environment
comprising 110 machines ranging from Silicon Graphics (SGI)
workstations to NT, XP, Windows 2000 and Linux-based PCs.
He said the company was looking at a coherent e-mail system for all
the desktop platforms. While Exchange provided good integration
with the Windows system, Leach said he would not use it on the Unix
and SGI systems.
"We have an issue delivering a heterogeneous e-mail and calendar
system for the desktop," he said. "Oracle looks like it will
provide a credible alternative."