October 14, 1996
Oracle Corp. officials say that by next year the company's entire suite of client/server business applications will be accessible over the Internet.
Oracle, which was one of the first of the packaged application vendors to provide a World Wide Web front end to its software, will add Java applets to all 35 of its modules by the second quarter of 1997, extending its enterprise applications to the Internet and intranets, company officials said.
When released, the Java applets will take Oracle's applications to a new level, allowing clients on multiple platforms, including the network computer, to download functions of the applications as needed. Current Web front ends allow access only to the information contained in the applications, not to the applications' actual data-crunching capabilities.
The announcement of the Java-enabled applications will be made at the Oracle Applications User Group conference in San Diego next week.
Oracle, in Redwood Shores, Calif., is racing to beat its competition to true Java capabilities. Lawson Software Inc. has already released similar Java functions, while PeopleSoft Inc. and Baan Co. promise Java applications by the end of next year. Market heavyweight SAP AG is taking a hybrid approach with Java and other technologies as it slowly re-architects its applications for the Internet.
Before the Oracle applications can gain Java capabilities, Oracle needs to release the Java version of its Developer 2000 tool kit. Without it, company officials said, current Oracle installations won't be able to make the transition to Java without re-coding their applications.
The applications' Java capabilities will also rely heavily on Oracle's recently announced NCA (Network Computing Architecture), officials said. NCA will provide a common platform that integrates client software with Web application servers and database servers.