Oracle has partnered with a small Canadian software
company to allow users of its Oracle Collaboration Suite e-mail
product to access their mail on BlackBerry handhelds.
Consilient Technologies has been named exclusive partner for
BlackBerry connectivity by Oracle, Consilient president and chief
executive officer Trevor Adey said.
Oracle is targeting Microsoft Exchange 5.5 users who are faced
with an upgrade to Exchange 2000 or the new Exchange 2003 because
support for Exchange 5.5 will end next year.
"There are many enterprises and government agencies that are
considering moving from Exchange to Oracle Collaboration Suite and
one of the important components is connectivity for executives to
the BlackBerry platform," Adey said. "It is a big box that Oracle
can check off now that they are going head to head with
Microsoft."
The Consilient2 is built on top of the BlackBerry Enterprise
Server sold by BlackBerry maker Research In Motion (RIM).
In its first release, Consilient2 pushes only e-mail to
BlackBerry devices, which will include support for calendaring,
tasks lists and address book early next year when Oracle will also
update its Collaboration Suite.
Consilient2 costs about $100 per user, with volume discounts
available, and works with Oracle Collaboration Suite Release 2.
RIM sells software that supports BlackBerry for Exchange and
IBM's Lotus Domino e-mail products.
Oracle shipped the first version of its Collaboration Suite in
August last year, followed by Release 2 in June.
Oracle claims to have sold Collaboration Suite to 500 customers
in its financial year 2003, which ended 31 May.
Joris Evers writes for IDG News Service