Netscape, Oracle expected to
strengthen ties
By Michael Moeller
Netscape Communications Corp. and Oracle Corp. are putting
the finishing touches on a broad relationship that will center on
Common Object Request Broker Architecture, Internet
Inter-Orb Protocol and transaction processing using Internet
protocols.
While the deal has yet to be finalized, negotiations have been
ongoing for more than a year, said sources close to the
companies. An announcement could come within the next
couple of weeks, they said.
If the two sides agree, the deal will call for Oracle to endorse
Netscape's ONE (Open Network Environment) development
environment, enabling any application based on ONE to run on
Oracle's NCA (Network Computing Architecture), the
sources said.
Likewise, Netscape, of Mountain View, Calif., is expected to
announce broader support for Oracle's databases and endorse
Oracle's NCA.
While both Oracle and Netscape officials declined to comment
on the talks, Oracle CEO Larry Ellison said this week in a TV
interview that the deal was done.
The deal could be critical to both sides.
For Netscape, an Oracle relationship gives it a major partner
with which to go after enterprise corporate customers, a
must-have for its enterprise push to be successful, said industry
observers. This week, Netscape rolled out a broad set of client
and server intranet plans at its Developer Conference, including
the release in the first quarter of 1997 of its Communicator
client suite and SuiteSpot 3.0 servers.
"It would greatly validate their enterprise message while at the
same time giving them an in with some of the biggest
corporations in the world," said one analyst who requested
anonymity.
For Oracle, of Redwood Shores, Calif., the deal would help
solidify its Internet efforts and give it access to Netscape
developers. One possible outcome would be the licensing of
Communicator as a client option for Oracle customers, the
sources said. |
