Oracle unveils Linux application server

Database giant Oracle has upped the ante in the Linux applications battle by unveiling its first enterprise-level application server for the open source software.

The company has also announced expanded marketing schemes with Linux distributors Caldera, SuSE and VA Linux which include joint advertising campaigns.

A Linux version of Oracle Internet Application Server is now available for download from its developer site, Oracle Technology Network. Although the product can be downloaded free, deployment will require a licence fee of $5 for each universal power unit (UPU) for the standard edition, and $30 per UPU for the enterprise version.

Oracle also began shipping the wireless edition of its Application Server for Linux at $150 per UPU and $95 per user. Application Server includes customer relationship management, order management, financials, human resources, manufacturing, procurement, projects and supply chain modules.

The Java-based Oracle Internet Application Server 8i is the last piece of the company's enterprise Linux strategy. It follows Oracle 8i Database Enterprise Edition, which was shipped last year, and the Oracle Ebusiness Suite 11i, launched earlier this summer.

Bob Shimp, Oracle's marketing director, said the company has already released the new version of the application server for the Unix operating system and is a few weeks away from shipping a version for Windows.

The announcement follows similar a campaign by IBM, which recently confirmed its commitment to support Linux across all four of its hardware platforms - RS/6000 Unix servers, AS/400 minicomputers, S/390 mainframes and NetFinity PC servers.

Big Blue is also expected to detail plans at next week's LinuxWorld trade show that it will pre-load versions of Linux from Caldera, Red Hat and TurboLinux on selected Net Vista and Aptiva desktop and Thinkpad laptop systems.

Meanwhile, Oracle announced that its database software for Linux is being downloaded from Oracle Technology Network at four times the rate of Oracle on Microsoft Windows 2000 and NT.

In the past year, requests for Oracle's database software for Linux have increased twelve-fold. During July 1999, when Oracle first announced Oracle8i for Linux, 20,000 copies were downloaded that month. During July 2000, 285,000 copies of the latest release of Oracle8i for Linux were downloaded.

Additional reporting by John Leyden, vnunet.com