Oracle to reduce prices for 10g

SAN FRANCISCO: Oracle Corp. will announce a price reduction for the entry level version of its new 10g database software, designed to allow companies to use a cluster of smaller server computers for data processing rather than a single, more expensive machine, a person close to the company said

Oracle began shipping its 10g software to Unix customers last week for use on Hewlett-Packard Co.'s HP-UX and 64-bit versions of Sun Microsystems Inc.'s Solaris, according to the company's developer web site.

Charles Phillips, one of Oracle's two presidents, told customers at the company's AppsWorld last week in San Diego that it would set a price for the entry-level version, dubbed "Standard Edition," of 10g that would be comparable with Microsoft Corp.'s SQL Server 2000 database software.

That Microsoft software offering sells for about $4,999, according to the company's web site.

Oracle has scheduled a conference call for Tuesday morning with its database executives.

© Reuters