The Oracle Linux Project

Oracle Corp. (Nasdaq: ORCL) has announced that its Oracle8i for Linux, a database designed specifically for the Internet, has been certified to run on the Red Hat, Inc. (Nasdaq: RHAT) distribution of the open-source operating system (OS). The announcement officially launches a strategic partnership between the two companies that is aimed at advancing corporate adoption of Linux.

Linux vendor Red Hat, who recently completed a highly successful IPO (initial public offering), will certify other future Oracle products. Additionally, Oracle will offer developers who have registered with Red Hat a promotional version of Oracle8i and membership to the Oracle Technology Network, an online developer resource site.

Targeting Developers

According to Michael Rocha, senior vice-president for Oracle’s platform technologies division, “Developers will now have easy access to the industry leading technology that they are now demanding. This promotion is a logical extension of our relationship with Red Hat.”

“We are continually expanding upon our commitment to Linux and this offer with Red Hat gives us the opportunity to reach more Linux developers than ever before,” added Rocha. On top of what Oracle calls “the Oracle8i distribution project,” the two companies will jointly sponsor a series of education and enablement programs to independent software vendors (ISVs) and corporate developers. The programs, which are expected this Fall, will include regional seminars and webcasts.

“Through this continuing partnership, Red Hat and Oracle will bring the scalability of the Oracle Internet Platform and the reliability of Red Hat Linux to a broad set of customers,” stated Tim Buckley, COO of Red Hat. “Red Hat is excited to work with Oracle, and we’re eager to provide Linux solutions and support to Oracle’s new and existing customers.”

About Oracle8i for Linux

The release of Oracle8i for Linux came after “a successful early adopter’s program,” with over 50,000 downloads of the product from the Oracle Technology Network. “Oracle is committed to bringing superior technology to the Linux community,” stated Chuck Rozwat, senior vice president of server technologies for Oracle. “Oracle8i on Linux comes with both Java and XML built right in,” and “together they offer the most cost-effective way to deploy scalable Internet applications.”

“Until the availability of Oracle database on Linux, we either had to rely on NT or use one of the shareware database servers available for Linux,” commented Jonathan August, president and CEO of Interconnection, Inc., a web-hosting and e-commerce solutions provider. “Neither solution provided the security, performance, manageability and reliability required by our customers.”

A supplier of software for information management, Oracle is the world’s second largest software company.