OracleMobile unveils e-mail and directory offerings

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.