New Oracle9i Release Coming Next Week

Oracle Corp. is heading into the final stretch for Release 2 of its flagship Oracle9i database with versions of it becoming available next week, company officials said.

Release 2 initially will be available on Sun Solaris for download to members of its online Oracle Technology Network, or OTN, at otn.oracle.com during the week of May 13, the company said. The availability for other supported platforms, such as Unix and Microsoft Windows, should follow within about a day or so, and Oracle9i Release 2 should become available for sale within a few days after its OTN release, a company spokeswoman said. The release should begin reaching manufacturing at the end of this week, she said.

Oracle detailed the dates as part of an announcement Monday that is has opened registration on OTN for its Early Access Program, where database administrators and developers can be among the first to try out the new release.

Oracle9i Release 2, which Oracle is hoping will help boost its slumping database sales and propel upgrades from early versions, is adding additional capabilities in such areas as business intelligence, native XML support, self-manageability and availability.