Oracle and HP today launched an initiative to unite their resellers to expand sales of Oracle E-Business Suite Special Edition North America on industry-standard HP servers to more effectively meet the needs of their customers. As part of the first phase of the initiative, integrated Oracle E-Business Suite Special Edition North America software and HP ProLiant server hardware offerings will enable select Oracle and HP partners to collaborate on go-to-market plans region by region. The combined solution will allow resellers to tap key market segments, further reducing the cost of deploying Oracle applications on the latest HP ProLiant servers. The initiative also calls for expanded training, sales and marketing support for Oracle and HP partners. Oracle E-Business Suite Special Edition North America is a packaged offering of Oracle E-Business Suite 11i business applications, delivered with accelerated implementation services, education and support sold by select certified Oracle partners. HP has tested Oracle E-Business Suite 11i on the latest generation of its industry-standard servers, the HP ProLiant ML350G4, and is providing validated configurations for up to 50 users. The HP ProLiant ML350G4 is a traditional tower that forms a versatile, affordable and dependable backbone for expanding businesses and dedicated workgroups. Based on industry-standard, modular components, it can adapt quickly to new business opportunities. Channel Partners Welcome New Opportunity for Joint Sales Oracle and HP are bringing together channel partners in the U.S. that will build upon their local expertise to drive business. As part of phase one, Oracle resellers Core Services and Whitbread Technologies now are working with HP resellers Total Tec and AdvizeX Technologies, respectively, to develop regional plans and reach new Oracle applications customers. The partners have been selected based upon their current expertise and relationship with Oracle. Oracle plans to continue signing up channel partners across the US as the initiative expands. "We have built a successful business selling and servicing Oracle Applications over the past 10 years and welcome the opportunity to add new customers by partnering with Total Tec. Today's announcement allows us to broaden our local reach with joint marketing and sales efforts," said James T. Bistis, president of Core Services Corporation, a Certified Partner in the Oracle PartnerNetwork. "By listening to the channel and market needs, Oracle and HP have responded well by providing the necessary tools and training to ensure reliable software and hardware solutions. And as a result, we can deliver rapid business benefit to our customers." "As an HP business partner with strong links to Core Services Corporation, we are excited to be able to offer our customers a one-stop-shop for acquiring and implementing Oracle E-Business Suite solutions built on HP ProLiant servers with Linux," said Paul Collins, vice president of Technology, Total Tec Systems. "By combining our experience implementing a reliable Oracle/Linux infrastructure with Core Services' Oracle application expertise, together we provide a coordinated approach that benefits customers with easy to acquire, easy to implement e-business solutions." "The opportunity to expand our Oracle business by collaborating with local HP reseller AdvizeX enhances the channel program Oracle is building around the Special Edition offering. We attained a preferred implementer status with Oracle by working very hard over the last five years to provide services that help make Oracle customers successful-and the tested HP ProLiant servers allow us to offer customers even more," said Joel D'Arcy, president of Whitbread Technology Partners, a Certified Advantage Partner in the Oracle PartnerNetwork. "The opportunity to be aligned with both the Oracle and HP sales arms will help us together drive down the total cost of selling and implementing the Oracle applications." "As a result of the Oracle and HP initiative, we are now working more closely with Whitbread to quickly and effectively meet our customers' needs for industry-leading solutions based on Oracle E-Business Suite and HP ProLiant servers," said Marc Sarazin, vice president of Sales and Marketing at AdvizeX Technologies. "The tools, training and services that Oracle and HP offer us are instrumental in helping us to deliver these solutions to our customers how they want them." Oracle partners participating in the program with HP resellers will have Oracle PartnerNetwork membership, as well as demand generation experience and proven experience with Oracle applications customer implementations. HP partners participating will be members of the HP PartnerONE program and have expertise in server and storage configuration and deployment. Expanded Support for Oracle and HP Partners Oracle and HP are deploying skilled selling resources to enable value added resellers to better meet the needs of their customers. They are also pairing partners with sales representatives from Oracle to provide inside sales support for the applications that includes proof of concept and sales consulting for customers. To help ensure the channel's readiness to sell, implement and service Oracle applications on HP ProLiant servers, the companies will offer their partners a series of training sessions on all facets of the customer experience, including sales, implementation and technical support. Oracle and HP also will assist partners with demand generation, awareness and marketing and sales supporting materials to help drive sales. "Our partners are an essential part of the Oracle economy and they help us extend local expertise and business solutions to our customers," said Bronwyn Hastings, vice president, Global Alliances & Channels at Oracle. "This strategic program with HP creates an opportunity for both companies' resellers to reach new customers and together sell a complete system that is fast and easy to deploy, and reduces the cost of automating critical business processes." "Because of our strong alliance with Oracle, select channel partners will better be able to meet their customer needs as a result of teaming their respective HP and Oracle expertise to deliver an easy to acquire, easy to own and easy to maintain solution," said Dan Vertrees, vice president, US/America's Alliances, HP. "By bringing together this initial set of channel partners, our regional customers benefit from the channel's increased coordination and expertise." Tested Configurations Oracle E-Business Suite Special Edition North America is delivered with leading business practices that are pre-configured across Oracle Financials, Oracle Inventory, Oracle Discrete Manufacturing, Oracle Order Management, Oracle Purchasing, Oracle Tele-Sales, Oracle Tele-Service, Oracle Field Sales and Oracle Daily Business Intelligence applications. The pre-configuration allows customers to further personalize their solution to meet their business needs and includes an option for Oracle On Demand services. Tested HP configurations for Oracle E-Business Suite Special Edition North America include the following: HP ProLiant ML350G4 (for 30 users) HP ProLiant ML350G4 (for 50 users) + 2 cpu 3 ghz + 2 cpu 3 ghz + 4 gb ram + 6 gb ram + 6x 72 gb disks + 7x 72 gb disks + 2x fast ethernet cards + 2x fast ethernet cards + 15" TFT Monitor + 15" TFT Monitor + 3 year support contract + 3 year support contract + certified for RedHat AS2.1/3 and + certified for RedHat AS2.1/3 and UnitedLinux 1.0 / SuSE SLES8 and UnitedLinux 1.0 / SuSE SLES8