Oracle has introduced on an outsourcing service for its recently
launched suite of productivity applications, Oracle Collaboration
Suite.
Oracle said Collaboration Suite Outsourcing is designed to give
users the option of having Oracle manage and maintain the suite's
e-mail, calendaring and other programs on its own servers or at the
customer's premises which, it claimed, could reduce the cost of
using the software.
The products will compete with Microsoft's Exchange and with IBM's
Lotus Notes and Domino.
For customers who host the service on Oracle's servers,
Collaboration Suite Outsourcing is $10 (£6.30) per user per month
for the full suite of applications, or $8 per month for e-mail or
file services only. If hosted at the customer premises or at a
third-party location, the price per user per month is $6 for the
full service or $5 for the files/e-mail only service.
The first version of Collaboration Suite was launched in July.
Customers who install the product rather than outsourcing it pay
$60 (£37.75) per named user, plus $5 per user for support.
Oracle also planned to release an upgrade to the product, Oracle
Collaboration Suite Release 2, early next year. The upgrade
features a set of functions called iMeeting, including instant
messaging, online meetings, co-browsing and other "real time"
collaboration features. Co-browsing lets project workers in
separate locations work on documents simultaneously using a
browser.
One feature lets users access voicemail messages at their PCs
through the e-mail inbox. The feature is available for companies
that have a private branch exchange (PBX) on-site.
Customers with 3,000 or more users will realise the most savings if
they switch to Collaboration Suite from Microsoft Exchange, Oracle
claimed.