Oracle to host application development
At the Oracle OpenWorld user conference in San Francisco, Oracle (orcl) officials outlined pilot projects that various divisions within the company are undertaking in the untried development-hosting space.
The OracleMobile division of the company launched at the show an environment called Oracle Online Mobile Studio. The company's wireless division has been testing privately the Online Mobile Studio infrastructure for several months, company officials said, with customers including Oracle Consulting and Visto Corp. The official Online Mobile Studio beta kicked off Monday. Oracle said Online Mobile Studio will be commercially available in November.
Here's how Online Mobile Studio works: Customers who want to develop and deploy hosted versions of their wireless content and applications register with OracleMobile. From their own web browser, the customers proceed to build and test their content, using Oracle servers and Oracle-maintained wireless devices. If desired, the customers can add pre-built OracleMobile content modules, such as driving directions or weather information services, to their applications.
Once the application is completed, Oracle hosts it for the developer and provides access to it via OracleMobile's portal, at www.oraclemobile.com.
OracleMobile CEO Denise Lahey said such a scenario will allow wireless developers, many who already have been burned by false starts and "WAPlash" (a.k.a., Wireless Access Protocol backlash), from suffering further missteps in targeting their content for specific devices. Lahey added that hosting wireless development will allow developers to write more foolproof, less costly applications.
Oracle's tools division also is dabbling with the hosted development concept.
"We will be hosting the development environment for portals, so that the development, testing, debugging, and deployment will all be done online," said Sohaib Abbasi, Oracle senior vice president for tools.
Abbasi said Oracle would announce the URL where developers can register, availability and pricing within the next few weeks.
Oracle announced at Oracle OpenWorld on Monday that its complete portal framework will be integrated into its 9i database and application server products. The portal framework allows users to write and run business portals, and is thus key to Oracle's take on how software is provided as a service.
Abbasi also noted that Oracle's portal interface will be the "unified user experience" for both its e-business suite of 11i applications, as well as for all Oracle-Online-hosted applications.
Oracle OpenWorld continues through the end of the week at the Moscone Convention Center.