Oracle and Computacenter open ISV Migration Centre

New service will help companies significantly reduce implementation time

Oracle and Computacenter has announced the opening of their UK migration centre for independent software vendors (ISVs). The centre is dedicated to helping ISVs migrate to Oracles technology, as an increasing number of UK organisations in the private and public sectors call for industry leading Oracle-based solutions.

David Callaghan, vice president, Channels & Solutions, Oracle Corporation UK Ltd (pictured right)  told IT Reseller: It's hard to define a typical ISV, they come in all shapes and sizes. However, one thing they have in common is that they look to vendors like Oracle to provide them with industry-leading technology and development tools, marketing and sales support and services that allow them to add value to their businessessuch as training and business strategy development. The joint initiative with Computacenter will deliver all these important elements to UK ISVs.

Oracle provides access to java-based technology and expertise that will allow ISVs to develop solutions from the database level to the most sophisticated service oriented architectures (SOA), which is extremely important as businesses demand more flexible and agile technology solutions.

Callaghan went on to say: The feedback we are getting from our partners is that were very easy to engage with. Oracle is a good fit for ISVs as we offer flexibility and breadth in our technology platform, supporting open standards from the database through the middleware stack, to our applications suite. Oracles global footprint and range of customer experiences across all industries further strengthens our ability to engage with ISVs of all sizes.

The facility, which is based at Computacenters unique Solutions Centre in Hatfield, will help ISVs and their customers take advantage of Oracle technologies more quickly and carry out low-risk, cost-effective migrations.

 

Simon Walsh, managing director of Computacenter Services, said: By drawing on our extensive infrastructure expertise, we have been able to create a series of reusable Oracle migration plans for ISVs. This will not only help reduce waste and expense, but also significantly cut migration times. The migration centre will deliver clear value to the ISV community, and we are delighted that Oracle has chosen to partner with Computacenter on this initiative.

 

The centre will enable ISVs to migrate their existing environment from a competitive platform to the Oracle technology stack, or to upgrade to the most recent version of Oracle Database 10g, Oracle Real Application Clusters (RAC) and Oracle Fusion Middleware.

Oracle is dedicated to providing its partners with all the tools and resources they need to serve their target markets effectively, said Darren Atkinson, CTO from Formscape, an Oracle ISV based in the UK. We welcome the opening of this migration centre, which ensures that ISVs are enabled with Oracles world-class technology and have access to Computacenters expertise in designing and optimising IT infrastructures. As a result, ISVs gain optimum value from their migration experience.

 

As well as providing the facilities and IT infrastructure to underpin the centre, Computacenter will also supply ISVs with on-site technical consultancy and a service desk. To help ISVs maximise their IT resources, the centres infrastructure has been enabled for remote access, so the migration can be finalised at a companys own site.

 

The migration service is the latest initiative in Oracles strategy to engage increasing numbers of ISVs. Oracle currently partners with 5100 ISVs in EMEA, and has welcomed nearly 600 new ISVs into its fold since September 2005. In addition, more than 410 ISVs have signed up to migrate their solutions to the Oracle Fusion Middleware platform. Oracles strong relationships with the ISV community are enabling the company to grow its share of the UK enterprise market, the fast growing SME sector, and the public sector where the company is experiencing particular demand among healthcare organisations.

 

The UK migration centre has been launched in response to strong demand for Oracle solutions in the ISV community, said Callaghan. We are committed to fully supporting ISVs as they move from competitive platforms or upgrade from old platforms, and we enable them to do this in the shortest time-frame and most cost-effective manner, all within a controlled environment that provides expert technology support.

 

The initiative is expected to help more than 40 ISVs migrate to Oracle platforms in the next 12 months. The centre is a valuable resource for helping UK ISVs to migrate their applications in a structured, low-risk environment, said Simon Gay, consultancy practice leader at Computacenter (pictured left). ISVs can optimise their platforms to leverage Oracles global recognition and resources, while we provide them with opportunities to extend the range of infrastructure services solutions they offer to customers.