REDWOOD SHORES, CA -- (MARKET WIRE) -- Apr 29, 2010 -- Oracle (NASDAQ: ORCL)

News Facts

• Delivering on its promise to quickly integrate the Sun partner community and provide further opportunities for them to grow and profit with Oracle, the Oracle PartnerNetwork (OPN) today expanded its partner enablement resources to include new training resources and Specializations for core Sun and Oracle technologies.
• From applications to disk, the expanded offerings provide partners the tools, resources, and support they need to differentiate themselves and their offerings, be recognized for their expertise and become preferred solution providers to Oracle customers.
• New Sun enablement resources include enhanced Oracle Sun Knowledge Zones and server and storage Specializations for critical Sun technologies, including Oracle Solaris and Sun server and storage systems. These knowledge zones also include new training modules and data sheets showing how to migrate from Sun to OPN Specialized.
• To support the overall broad adoption of Specialization, Oracle also announced the availability of an ongoing partner webcast series. These webcasts deliver tailored information for partners based on their program and specialization needs.
• In addition, Oracle unveiled new software Specializations for its Database, Middleware and Applications offerings.
• Oracle PartnerNetwork now supports Sun product resell in a limited number of countries. Resell will become available worldwide in the coming months. Partners must meet competency and contractual resell criteria specified in the appropriate knowledge zones. Existing Sun partners may continue to resell under their existing Sun agreements until they migrate to the Oracle PartnerNetwork.

Enabling Partners to Specialize and Profit from Applications-to-Disk

• To date, more than 23,000 partners have passed OPN Specialists tests. These tests demonstrate partner competency criteria required for various Oracle PartnerNetwork Specializations.
  
  New OPN Specializations announced today include:
  
  
  • Oracle Sun:
    • Sun SPARC Enterprise Entry-Level and Midrange Servers
    • Sun SPARC Enterprise High-End Servers
    • Sun Chip Multithreading (CMT) Servers
    • Sun Storage 7000 Unified Storage Systems
    • StorageTek Tape Libraries
    • Oracle Solaris
  • Oracle Applications:
    • Oracle Policy Automation
    • Oracle CRM On Demand
  • Oracle Database:
    • Oracle Database Security
    • Oracle Data Warehousing
  • Oracle Fusion Middleware:
    • Oracle Essbase
    • Oracle Business Intelligence Foundation
    • Oracle Application Grid
    • Oracle Content Management
    • Oracle Web Center
• These new specializations are available immediately on the OPN Specialized page and bring the number of OPN Specializations to more than 35 since the program's launch last December.
  
  

Supporting Quotes

• "Oracle is committed to providing the resources and opportunities our combined Oracle and Sun partner community requires to differentiate and gain the competitive advantage they need to sell, profit and grow with Oracle. The number of certified specializations we have already seen since the program was rolled out just six months ago is a testament to real and tangible benefits partners see in this program," said Judson Althoff, senior vice president, Worldwide Alliances and Channels, Oracle. "Quickly following the close of the Sun acquisition, we are delivering on our promise to embrace and support Sun partners and provide new training and Specializations that support core Sun technologies. With these additions to the OPN Specialized program, Oracle becomes the only company to offer partners the training and solutions they need to expand their business -- from applications-to-disk."

Supporting Resources

• Oracle PartnerNetwork (OPN)
• About OPN Specialized
• OPN Specialization Page
• Specialization Video Interview
• Gartner, Dataquest Insight: Oracle Revamps Its Partner Program to Focus on Specializations (PDF)
• Judson Althoff blog
• Connect with the Oracle Partner community at OPN on Twitter, OPN on Facebook, OPN on LinkedIn, and OPN on YouTube

About Oracle
Oracle (NASDAQ: ORCL) is the world's most complete, open, and integrated business software and hardware systems company. For more information about Oracle, please visit our Web site at http://www.oracle.com.

About Oracle PartnerNetwork
Oracle PartnerNetwork (OPN) Specialized is the latest version of Oracle's partner program that provides partners with tools to better develop, sell and implement Oracle solutions. OPN Specialized offers resources to train and support specialized knowledge of Oracle products and solutions and has evolved to recognize Oracle's growing product portfolio, partner base and business opportunity. Key to the latest enhancements to OPN is the ability for partners to differentiate through Specializations. Specializations are achieved through competency development, business results, expertise and proven success. To find out more visit http://www.oracle.com/partners.

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