Sun, Oracle Team on Customer Programs

Sun Microsystems Inc. and Oracle Corp. Wednesday announced three new joint customer programs—Infrastructure Consolidation, Oracle E-Business Suite Upgrade and Joint Support Services—at OracleWorld, in San Francisco.

The Infrastructure Consolidation initiative features a program called “Consolidate and Save,” which provides joint migration and consolidation services and trade-in offers and which Sun and Oracle say will help customers get better performance, overall availability and investment protection. The trade-in has two components. The first, Oracles Safe Switch program—effective until months end—offers 100 percent trade-in credit on net database licenses from competing vendors. The second, Suns Upgrade Allowance program, slashes up to 30 percent off the price of a new Sun server when trading in older Sun or non-Sun servers.

The second customer program, the Oracle E-Business Suite upgrade, involves convincing customers that upgrading to 11i makes sense financially. It features an education program with sizing and configuration tools, services, and facilities. A main component is the Sun Oracle Application Technology Center, an iForce facility in Menlo Park, Calif.—at Suns headquarters—where Oracle/Sun customers can test Oracle applications before deciding to purchase them.

At the heart of the third program, Joint Support Services, is a joint support center also located in Menlo Park. The center—dubbed Joint Escalation Center—is a call center staffed by senior support engineers from Sun and Oracle who will provide 24/7 global assistance with Oracle applications. The Joint Support Services program also features a technical support agreement that enables the companies support teams to work together to resolve customer issues.

The two companies collaboration around Oracle9i Real Application Clusters on the SunPlex platform is a key component of the Infrastructure Consolidation initiative. In fact, the customer programs announcement was delivered as part of a keynote given by John Gage, chief researcher and director of Suns Science Office, in which he focused on the 20-year anniversary of joint collaboration between Oracle, of Redwood City, Calif., and Sun.

Doug Kennedy, Oracles vice president of Platform Alliances, System Platforms Division, described the relationship as an influence on Oracles product stack innovations.

“Our long-standing relationship has been successful as a result of Oracle and Suns shared vision and strong commitment to offer customers high value and complete solutions,” he said. “Weve innovated and refined solutions around the entire Oracle product stack, from Oracle E-Business Suite to Oracle9i Real Application Clusters on Sun.”

(Editors Note: This story has been updated since its original posting.)