ORACLE INDIA Changing Gears 

In 1999-00, if there was one company
that led the internet age from the front, it was Oracle. After Oracle 8i in
1998-99, last fiscal saw the launches of the Oracle Ebusiness suite and Oracle
CRM. The database major, which created a lot of din internationally, could not
match the fervor in India.

Though the company’s products
remained the most sought after in the database space, Microsoft’s SQL 7.0 made
incursions into Oracle’s traditional stronghold. An important highlight of the
last fiscal was the launch
of Oracle iFS, the internet file system. This is another product directed at
stemming Microsoft’s foray into its space and is available to developers at
present. An extension to Oracle 8i database, Oracle claims the new product could
combine the simplicity of a desktop file system with the powerful search,
security and information management features of Oracle 8i. The

education segment continued to bring gains, and the company entered into a
tie-up with NIIT and introduced
courses in CRM.

Customers of the company’s ERP solution in the
country included Kirloskar Oil Engines, Punj Lloyd,
Sony India, Maruti Udyog, Indian Oil Corp and Cummins India. The company plans
to undertake large-scale expansion of its software development activity in
India. The plans include setting up of another development center in Bangalore.
The expansion will cater to Oracle’s new thrust on developing software in
technology areas like mobile computing and ebusiness solutions built around
Oracle 8i. Hectic activity is also directed at the launch of the next versions
of its internet database, the Oracle 816, in Hindi and Tamil. The company is
especially upbeat about ‘incubating technologies’ in wireless application
protocol. DQ

Fact Sheet

START-UP YEAR: 1993 PRODUCTS AND SERVICES: Packaged
software, application tools, databases, ecommerce related technology and
services BRANCH OFFICES: 6 EMPLOYEES: Over 250 l ADDRESS: Dr Gopaldas Bhawan,
10th Floor, 28 Barakhamba Road, New Delhi 110 001 TEL: 373 6625, 372 0572 FAX:
372 0570 WEBSITE: www.oracleindia.com