patrice,
this just in, partnering with orcle. believe this will spur some sales.
gw
News Alert from PR Newswire via Quote.com
Topic: (NASDAQ:ORCL) Oracle Corporation, (NASDAQ:MACR) Macromedia Inc,
Quote.com News Item #5056152
Headline: Oracle and Macromedia Combine Efforts to Establish Open Enterprise
Learning Standards and Learning Content Reuse
======================================================================
Providing Choice for Customers is Key Objective as Companies Plan to Join
Ranks to Promote Open Learning Standards
PENSACOLA, Fla., Jan. 12 /PRNewswire/ -- Oracle Corp. (NASDAQ:ORCL), the
leader in online education, and Macromedia (NASDAQ:MACR) today announced
plans to collaborate on the Reusable Content Objects (RCO) format for online
learning and enterprise learning standards. Additionally, Oracle plans to
implement the Aviation Industry CBT Committee (AICC) interoperability standard
in its Oracle(R) Learning Architecture (OLA). This announcement was made at a
meeting of AICC, the committee that has overseen the specification since 1993.
"The learning industry will benefit greatly from the adoption of these
new standards and the ability of Oracle and Macromedia products to work
together. We're extremely pleased that Oracle and Macromedia will join forces
to unite the industry around a core standard of interoperability.
Additionally, the RCO initiative is timely in solving a major industry problem
of content reuse," said Jim White, VP and general manager of Macromedia's
Interactive Learning Division.
"Our customers have been telling us that they need an open, enterprise
platform that gives them options in selecting content and development tools
for the administration and delivery of online learning," said Klaus Andersen,
vice president of Oracle Education(SM). "We are excited to support the AICC
specification and are eager to help move it forward through our work with
Macromedia."
Reusable Content Objects Format
RCO promotes a granular, component-based content model that allows
learners to access custom learning tracks that meet their exact needs. It
also promotes development of learning content in small topics that can be used
in learning and performance support scenarios. RCO will allow curriculum
builders to easily locate and reuse relevant learning content. Reuse has long
eluded the content development industry. Oracle and Macromedia are working to
incorporate RCO into their learning products. Macromedia and Oracle are
involved in several industry standards efforts including the AICC, IMS Educom,
IEEE, the Learning Object Metadata Group, and XML to promote open content
standards.
"Due to the lack of interoperability, a lot of developers are in a great
deal of pain because the different web-based training delivery tools don't
work together," said Ellen Julian, Manager, Training and Education Research,
IDC Research. "Interoperability is the key. An open standard that allows
organizations to mix content from different vendors is imperative for this
industry to satisfy the training needs of the future."
AICC Specification
In 1993, the Aviation Industry CBT Committee (AICC) developed a standard
to enable organizations to incorporate any learning content from any source
that support the AICC CMI001 standard. The AICC standard specifies how CBT
courses relay results back to a Computer-Managed Instruction (CMI) system to
enable interoperability. It also specifies the format for exchanging
curriculum files from one CMI system to another. This not only provides the
interoperability needed to mix and match CBT courses from different vendors,
but also the portability needed to "plug and play" between CMI systems if
desired. Macromedia's Pathware CMI already complies with this standard.
About Macromedia
Headquartered in San Francisco, Macromedia is a leading provider of
software products, each designed to help make creativity and interactivity
more possible in the new technology ecosystem. Macromedia's award-winning
products for Windows, Macintosh and the Internet are available to business,
education, and government customers worldwide. Additional information on
Macromedia is available on the Internet at ( macromedia.com ).
Oracle Corporation is the world's largest supplier of software for
information management, and the world's second largest software company. With
annual revenues of more than over $6 billion, the company offers its database,
tools and application products along with related consulting, education and
support services, in more than 140 countries around the world.
For more information about Oracle, call 650-506-7000. Oracle's World Wide
Web address is (URL) oracle.com.
Trademarks
Oracle is a registered trademark and Oracle Education is a trademark or
registered trademark of Oracle Corporation. All other products or company
names mentioned are used for identification purposes only, and may be
trademarks of their respective owners.
SOURCE Oracle Corp.
-0- 01/12/98
/CONTACT: Bob Berger of Oracle Corp., 650-506-5119, or bberger6@aol.com;
or Candace Locklear of GCI Group, 415-974-7208, or clocklear@gcigroup.com/
/Web site: oracle.com and macromedia.com |
