REDWOOD SHORES: Oracle Corp., the world's No. 2 software maker, on Wednesday
rolled out a program to help businesses give workers access to e-mail and
company directories via cell phones and other wireless devices.
"It's all about saving time, saving money and making your employees more
productive," said OracleMobile chief executive Denise Lahey. The mobile
products and services division for the Redwood Shores, Calif.-based software
giant called FastForward Mobile email and Corporate Directory, the new offering
is immediately available, sells for as little as $125,000 and can be up and
running in as little as 15 days, Oracle said.
Among other things, the software would give employees the unfettered ability
to check and respond to e-mail and find co-workers' contact information using
web-enabled phones, two-way messaging devices and handhelds, such as Palm Pilots
or Blackberrys - rather than forcing them to find a place to connect a laptop
computer to the Internet.
Ten Oracle partners in North America, Europe and Asia have agreed to hook up
the service for their customers. They include Internet service provider
AnswerThink Inc., consultants Cap Gemini Ernst & Young, Web consulting and
design firm Razorfish Inc. and Hewlett-Packard GmbH.
Oracle's new program should help to jump-start mobile adoption, said
Francesca Mabarak, senior analyst for wireless and mobile technologies at the
Yankee Group, a Boston-based technology research unit of Reuters Group Plc.
"Companies today are looking to make mobile a simple and fast extension of
their business," Mabarak said.
(C) Reuters Limited 2001.