Oracle Corp. Announces Y2K Solutions for Mid-Sized and Fortune 1000 Companies
Several Customers Implement Y2K Compliant Financials Package in 60 Days Or Less
August 4, 1998 08:01 AM
REDWOOD SHORES, Calif., Aug. 4 /PRNewswire/ -- Oracle Corp. ORCL today announced an initiative to help new customers address the Y2K problem. The initiative comprises two offerings, one targeted at mid-sized companies and the other targeted towards Fortune 1000 companies. These offerings are designed to address the imminent Y2K compliance issue and meet the customers' core financial business accounting needs in an expedient and efficient way.
For mid-sized companies, Oracle is offering FastForward Financials Y2K, a fixed-price solution that includes financial accounting software, consulting, education and support. Several customers including Impac Hotels, Propeller, Inc., Rhythms NetConnections and 800-FLOWERS have already implemented Oracle Y2K compliant financial accounting systems in less than 60 days. For Fortune 1000 companies that have already started Y2K remediation work but are falling behind schedule, Oracle is offering the Compliance evaluation package that comprises up to two days of free evaluation assistance and project planning.
Rhythms NetConnections, an Englewood, Colorado based national provider of high-performance networking solutions, was looking for financial accounting applications that would provide the company with robust functionality and scale to their extensive growth expectations. Additionally, in order to meet aggressive market entry goals, Rhythms needed to have a system in place in three months' time. Implementation time was critical.
"With Oracle, our financials implementation process was impressive," said Robert T. Masitti, vice president, operations and information systems, Rhythms NetConnections. "Once we made a commitment to spend the funds to implement, we were able to assess our requirements in under a week; deploy and install within the next week; test and tune in the third week; and actually bring the system up and online in the fourth week. The total implementation took less than 30 days -- not business days, but calendar days. It was truly incredible."
Propeller, Inc., a reseller of laptop computer accessories based in Orem, Utah, needed to upgrade its financial accounting system to be Y2K compliant. Additionally, the company needed a system that could grow with it and provide fast information retrieval, complex reporting functionality and tight integration. Propeller chose Oracle FastForward Financials and implemented the complete suite of Oracle Financials in 45 business days.
"Having done our homework and defining our business processes in preparation for this installation and implementation, we were ready to implement quickly. Oracle's FastForward consulting group provided us with just-in-time consulting expertise and we were able to benefit from all the functional benefits of Oracle Financials and solve the Y2K issue quickly and painlessly," said Cathi Pierson, corporate controller, Propeller, Inc. "What started out as potentially a big Y2K problem, turned out to be a relatively easy fix and we got expanded financials functionality and a long-term partnership with Oracle."
Fast Forward Financials Y2K Program Offering for Mid-Sized Companies
Oracle's Y2K offering for mid-sized companies is called FastForward Financials Y2K. The offering includes software, consulting, education and support. For the fixed price of $300,000 the solution includes the Oracle Financials Release 11 suite for 25 users, comprised of Oracle General Ledger, Oracle Payables, Oracle Assets, Oracle Purchasing and Oracle Receivables. Oracle Consulting's FastForward Financials fixed-scope implementation services are also bundled in the solution. This approach substantially reduces the complexity of more traditional, large-scale implementations. A tailored education package that includes five days of onsite end-user training and a one day seminar for DBAs is also bundled with this offering. Additionally, one year of OracleSILVER support that includes 24x7 global telephone support and regular account management reporting is included.
Offering for the Fortune 1000 Company
For Fortune 1000 companies that have already started work to address the Y2K issue but have fallen behind and are concerned that the deadline is fast approaching, Oracle is offering the Oracle Compliance evaluation package, developed by Oracle Consulting. This program offers customers up to two days of free evaluation assistance resulting in a clear implementation proposal and project plan. This program covers both financial accounting and human resources software solutions.
"Many mid-sized companies have still not addressed the Y2K issue and over half of the Fortune 1000 are having trouble hitting IT milestones in preparation for their implementations," said Ray Lane, president and COO of Oracle Corporation. "Our Y2K initiative is designed to help guide those companies towards Y2K compliant financial application solutions, using proven products and our experienced consultants who can expedite the process."
Availability
The FastForward Financials Y2K offering will be available on NT and UNIX platforms beginning September 15, 1998 through December 31, 1998. This solution will also be available pre-loaded on Hewlett-Packard platforms this fall. The Oracle Compliance Evaluation will also be available on September 15, 1998.
Oracle Corporation is the world's leading supplier of software for information management, and the world's second largest software company. With annual revenues of $7.1 billion, the company offers its database, application server, 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, please call 650-506-7000. Oracle's World Wide Web address is (URL) oracle.com.
Trademarks
NOTE: Oracle is a registered trademark of Oracle Corporation and FastForward and Oracle Financials are trademarks or registered trademarks 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.
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