Oracle to make database software for 3Com PalmPilot
REDWOOD SHORES, Calif., June 12 (Reuters) - Oracle Corp. ORCL.O and
3Com Corp. COMS.O have agreed to develop miniature database software
to allow mobile workers to tap into their companies' information
warehouses via 3Com's handheld PalmPilot computer.
The goal is to create computer programs that give employees access to
customer profiles, inventory price sheets, and the like while they
were in the field using inexpensive handheld computers.
By some estimates, about 40 percent of the national work force will be
mobile by 2000. Giving big companies an alternative to $3,000 laptops
with the $300 PalmPilot "is a huge deal," said Jacob Christford,
Oracle marketing manager.
Oracle is the biggest developer of database software, the computer
programs that big companies use to store and retrieve giant libraries
of business information.
3Com is the second-biggest maker of computer networking gear. One of
its units makes the PalmPilot, the most popular handheld computer. The
device stores appointments, contact information and can communicate
with other computers through modems.
As part of their development agreement, the companies will release a
test version of the Palm "conduit development kit" in August. The
communication kit would allow a PalmPilot to retrieve information from
an Oracle database for viewing and to send data back to the central
database.
In the first quarter of 1999, the companies plan to release Oracle
Lite, a miniature version of the company's flagship database program
that would run on the PalmPilot.
Oracle said it was developing similar software for other types of
handhelds, including those based on Microsoft Corp.'s MSFT.O Windows
CE technology.
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