Oracle has launched a support and marketing program to
encourage independent software suppliers to develop Linux-based
Oracle applications.Oracle's Unbreakable Linux program will help
suppliers with development work, with porting existing applications
to Linux, and with marketing, according to senior vice president
and chief marketing officer Mark Jarvis.
The £96.5m campaign will include free
development software for suppliers, a Linux software pack for
porting applications to run on Linux, plus design and testing
help.
A two-for-one marketing fund means Oracle will
give $2 for every $1 spent on approved marketing campaigns, Jarvis
said.
Pascal Gremiaux, product marketing manager of
Access Commerce, said Access has been moving its products to Linux
over the past six months.
The Toulouse-based company's Cameleon software
automates sales of tailored or customised products. It was a
customer-driven decision to move to Linux, Gremiaux said, with
clients asking to move to Oracle but looking for low-cost, reliable
solutions.
Rudi van Havermaet, sales and marketing
director of DCS Transport and Logistics Solutions, part of DCS
group in London, agreed that customer demand is the driver.
DCS is not pushing its customers to use Linux,
but is responding to demand, he said. "Customers in the transport
industry want to cut costs, and they want reliability and
functionality." It took a year of debate within the company to make
the decision, he said, "but with Oracle behind it we had enough
confidence to say we would support it".
All Oracle products are now available on Linux
and the company recommends Linux for mid-tier applications to all
its new customers, Jarvis said. "It's what we run our own business
on, so it's hard not to recommend it."
Most database customers are also recommended
to run on Linux, Jarvis said. "About 75% of the time, we recommend
Linux. It's down to size and manageability constraints, because
manageability is one issue with Linux. But that'll be fixed soon,"
he said.
Oracle itself is developing solutions to
Linux's manageability problems, he added.
Oracle is not promoting Linux ahead of other
platforms, but offering a new option that customers want, Jarvis
said. Linux is expected to grow by 58% in the next five years.
Pricing will be consistent across operating
systems. "The benefits of the lower costs will be shared across all
customers," Jarvis said.