INDUSTRY

Oracle today announced that key telecommunications companies and communications service providers (CSPs) are deploying next generation telecommunications services on Oracle 10g software -- Oracle Database and Oracle Application Server -- to help reduce costs, grow revenues and speed time to market for new competitive services like high-speed broadband content and 3G mobile applications. Oracle Application Server, Oracle's standards-based Application Platform Suite, includes a number of telecommunications and carrier-grade features that enable service providers to deploy their customer-facing, business-critical Service Delivery Platforms on a reliable, scalable and manageable platform. By embedding these capabilities in Oracle Application Server, Oracle delivers a comprehensive offering that caters to the unique needs of CSPs. The features leveraged for deploying a Service Delivery Platform include messaging support; location positioning; device configuration and transcoding; mobile application and Java downloads; voice and streaming; integration with Parlay Gateways; and support for management and delivery of digital content. Oracle's product roadmap includes plans to add support for standards such as Session Initiation Protocol (SIP), Java Application Programming Interfaces for Integrated Networks (JAIN) and Parlay Gateways in an upcoming release of Oracle Application Server. CSPs currently leverage many components of Oracle's software including the Oracle Database; Oracle Application Server as an Application and Web services infrastructure; Oracle Identity Management as an Enterprise LDAP Directory and Single Sign-On infrastructure; Oracle BPEL Process Manager for flexible core business processes such as customer provisioning and number portability; Business Intelligence and Analytics for customer intelligence and relationship management; Mobile Portals and Content Management. Using Oracle technology, CSPs can consolidate systems, centralize data and enable enterprise-wide workflows to help speed time to market and reduce operational costs. "The growing demand for information rich communications is spurring convergence of next-generation networks and business and operations support systems (BOSS). Oracle is driving this trend through a single, modular IT platform, enabling faster time-to-market, reduced cost and improved customer experience. Today organizations are using Oracle's Database and Application Server technology to implement core business processes and deploy mission-critical, BOSS systems on an enterprise Grid," said Yancy Oshita, senior director, Communications, Media and Entertainment at Oracle. "These customers are evidence that the Oracle 10g platform can deliver a competitive advantage to companies in the communications industry." Industry Applauds Oracle 10g Technology Many companies are using Oracle technology as a telecommunication Service Delivery Platform today. Telecomunicaciones Movilnet Venezuela C.A., a wholly owned subsidiary of CANTV, provides mobile communication services to more than 2.5 million customers, representing 42 percent of the cellular market in Venezuela. "We see the implementation of Oracle 10g technology as an effective way to leverage products, services and systems on platforms that provide flexibility and versatility," said Rafael Ray, developer manager, Telecomunicaciones Movilnet C.A. "With our improved flexibility and versatility, we can better adapt to the extreme demands that the mobile product markets demand. With these advantages, we can successfully balance stability, growth and time-to-market." Headquartered in Belfast, Northern Ireland, Aepona is the leading provider of OSA/Parlay Gateways to enable telecom service providers to rapidly develop and deliver innovative and profitable services. "Oracle and Aepona's complementary offering for the telco sector has delivered significant value to network operators for some time," said Liam McQuillan, CEO at Aepona. "Oracle has been supportive in working with Aepona and our Application Partners to validate true end-to-end solutions that enable the telecommunications sector to realize the benefits that integration and Web services have brought to other business sectors. Together, Aepona's Causeway and Oracle's telco-enabled Application Server provide the open standards platform that reduces cost and timescale -- removing the barriers to entry for new customer engaging and revenue enhancing services. In addition, IT, telecommunications and Web convergence mean that many more applications will be made that cater to the individual wants of different customers. This is a significant catalyst for telecommunications enablement of enterprise services." Softbank BB, one of Japan's largest broadband service providers holding more than 4.8 million consumers, is utilizing Oracle 10g software. Through its service, Softbank BB provides high-speed Internet connections and a rich communication environment allowing people to share wisdom and knowledge through a variety of applications operating on top of this network. "Our internal IT demands were fluctuating significantly as a result of our increased growth and changing customer requirements," said Shinichiro Yasukawa, general manager, Corporate Sales Division, Softbank BB. "Oracle's grid computing platform has enabled us to scale our resources to meet changing business demands and has resulted in decreased IT costs." Talk America, a provider of phone service and high speed Internet access, uses Oracle Application Server 10g, Oracle Database 10g, Oracle Enterprise Manager 10g and Oracle Real Application Clusters 10g to develop a highly available, scalable and secure infrastructure. "We needed a significant change that would enable us to grow the company base," said Laurence Grant, chief technologist and vice president of Enterprise Computing for Talk America. "Standardizing on Oracle 10g and moving to a grid infrastructure enabled us to provide higher availability and meet our changing business needs."