After a thorough evaluation of data management and middle-tier infrastructure software from Oracle and others, Talk America decided to migrate to Oracle 10g. Oracle offers the only complete, integrated software stack--Oracle Database 10g and Oracle Application Server 10g--engineered to work together to enable grid computing. "We were impressed by the integrated set of offerings," said Timothy Leonard, CIO, Talk America. "There is no need to patch things together with Oracle 10g -- which was very appealing to us." Need for Increased Performance Steers Talk America to Oracle 10g, Grid Talk America is using Oracle Database 10g and Oracle Real Application Clusters 10g to help it increase the reliability of its business critical applications such as lead management, order processing, provisioning and customer billing. Oracle's database clustering software enables Talk America to run their applications and to query large volumes of information more efficiently with virtually no interruption of service. "In the past, the database has been a single point of failure," said Leonard. "So we looked at the reliability and scalability offered by Oracle 10g and grid computing, and established that it fits our business strategy." Central to the company's technology infrastructure is Oracle Application Server 10g on Linux. Talk America will utilize Oracle Application Server 10g's J2EE capabilities to build and deploy custom Java applications in a grid environment. The migration to Oracle Application Server 10g is currently underway and is expected to be complete in early 2005. Once fully deployed, Oracle's comprehensive application platform suite will work with Oracle Database 10g to provide unparalleled performance, reliability and scalability for deploying Java-based applications. Oracle 10g enables Talk America to deploy an enterprise grid computing infrastructure to address its most significant business priorities. Talk America's enterprise grid is expected to help it improve its application service levels, better manage its systems, and reduce the cost of its IT systems. "Moving to a grid computing infrastructure using Oracle 10g software gives IT organizations greater flexibility and better alignment with business priorities," said Robert Shimp, vice president of Technology Marketing, Oracle Corporation. "Grid computing can also improve reliability and it offers the ability to scale out system performance as needed over time."