Letter from the Editor

Oracle starts the New Year 2005 with a landmark event for the software industry. Our merger with PeopleSoft, which was concluded on 7th January, opens up exciting new opportunities not just for the two combined companies, but for our customers and our joint partner network. To find out more about the merger and the integration roadmap, you can watch the archived launch webcast or read the press release.

New Year, new opportunities for ISVs

There are tremendous business opportunities for any ISV choosing to join the Oracle PartnerNetwork (OPN) at this time. Not only will you have access to the combined company's customer base, but you will also be able to find new sales and implementation partners in the vast, global ecosystem surrounding the combined company. We are significantly expanding our development and support divisions, enabling you to get all the help you need with migrating to an Oracle technology platform and integrating with the Oracle, PeopleSoft or J.D. Edwards applications suites.

If your solution is already integrated with PeopleSoft or J.D. Edwards and you are going to market with a joint offering, do not worry. Oracle is committed to supporting PeopleSoft and J.D. Edwards product sets until 2013, and will honour all outstanding partnering agreements. What's more, you will also benefit from major new revenue new opportunities if you decide to resell Oracle Database, Oracle Application Server and/or Oracle Collaboration Suite.

In the longer term, Oracle plans to move all of the applications to the same open-standards, Java-based architecture that is already the basis of Oracle Applications, making integration with complementary applications faster and easier for ISVs and for end-users.

Oracle revenues soar in EMEA

Oracle's fiscal Q2 results clearly show the size and scope of the business opportunity for Oracle partners in Europe, the Middle East and Africa. In the three months from September to December 2004, revenues in the region topped $1bn for the first time, with growth of more than 30% in countries such as the UK, CIS and Eastern Europe. More than half of this revenue came through indirect sales, indicating the scale of the opportunity for partners.

It is interesting to note that the volume of deals signed in the quarter increased significantly as Oracle continues to reinforce its foothold in the SME sector. We will help our ISV partners to build their Oracle business in this market further in the quarters to come, through initiatives like our SME Solutions Catalog and Oracle PartnerNetwork QuickStart, and by generating qualified leads for partners through our OracleDirect telesales and telemarketing division.

More ISVs join Oracle PartnerNetwork

Since we held our inaugural ISV Forum event in London in September, ISV membership of OPN has increased significantly. Two hundred and fourteen vendors joined the network between September and November 2004, with 44 of enrolling in the low-fee OPN QuickStart program to resell the SME-focused Oracle Database Standard Edition One. In the same period, 787 ISVs renewed their OPN membership. Read more about the benefits of joining OPN.

Go to Market with Oracle in FY06

Oracle's fiscal year 2006 begins on the 1st June 2005, and we have already planned our go-to-market campaigns for specific products, markets and industry sectors. ISV participation will form a critical part of many of these campaigns, and I would encourage all vendors to investigate the opportunities involved.

As always, I hope that you will find this newsletter interesting and that you will be inspired to find out more about the benefits of becoming an Oracle partner. If you have any questions about anything contained in this newsletter, please don't hesitate to get in touch.

Bertram Mandel
Senior Director, Alliances & Channels, Oracle Europe, Middle East and Africa