As anticipated (CI No 3,431), Oracle Corp has teamed up with 3Com Corp’s Palm Computing unit to jointly develop software that will bring Oracle’s database product to the palm computing platform. The two will integrate the Oracle Lite client database with the Palm III and PalmPilot products, allowing palm computing applications and data be replicated and shared with the Oracle8 database server. The first phase of the joint work is the Palm Conduit Development Kit for Oracle, a beta of which is due in August which will allow for synchronization with a shared Oracle database server. Other products and services will come in time, including a full- featured Oracle Lite for the Palm platform in the first quarter of 1999. In addition to the 3Com products, Oracle Lite will function on palm computing devices from IBM Corp and Symbol Technologies Inc. Oracle also has a beta version for Microsoft Corp’s Windows CE platform which is also expected to ship in August. It promised deals with vendors of CE-based machines within a few months. Oracle Lite is being touted as the ideal way to push handheld computing into the enterprise, as it only requires 750Kb of space. It also provides Java functionality to facilitate the development of lightweight database applications. Oracle said it designed the object relational database product from the ground up, rather than stripping the functionality from an existing product, which is what it claims Microsoft is doing to create a lite version of its SQL Server for notebook computers. Oracle did actually start such shrinking work, which eventually resulted in its Personal Oracle product, which it says sees strong sales to developers. Oracle Light was first brought out two years ago, after three years in development, for the notebook market, and is now the first such product in the handheld space, the company claims. Oracle and 3Com are hoping to see healthy sales among mobile workers who need to stay in synch with their corporate information systems. Oracle said it will be targeting such industries as insurance and healthcare. It already has a few customers in the fold and expects to make announcements shortly.
