ORACLE AND MAPINFO COMBINE PRODUCTS AND SERVICES FOR
INTERNET BUSINESS APPLICATIONS TO DELIVER LOCATION-BASED
ANALYSIS FOR BUSINESS INTELLIGENCE, DATA WAREHOUSING
Oracle Corp. and MapInfo Corp. have announced the world's first Internet-based spatial data analysis solution on Oracle8i. This solution will help organizations understand and visualize data and quickly identify business patterns and customer trends. Oracle and MapInfo will integrate MapInfo's suite of Web-based spatial and mapping products with Oracle8i, the industry's only Internet database, and Oracle Spatial, which provides the capability to manage and analyze geographic data in Oracle8i.
This technology integration is expected to enable new ways for organizations to "see" and analyze data in their electronic commerce, data warehousing, customer care and call center applications. The Oracle and MapInfo combination will take geographic and demographic information beyond their traditional use in geographic information systems (GIS) into data warehouse, enterprise resource planning (ERP) and customer relationship management (CRM) applications. For example, telecommunications companies will be able to provide better service and more accurately targeted marketing campaigns by understanding the relationship between customer location and the coverage and services provided by their networks.
"The Oracle Internet Platform will provide departments within our agency with a vastly improved method of accessing Web-based spatial information," said Ed Corvi, manager of the Mapping and Analysis Center (MAC) at the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA). "The combination of MapInfo and Oracle technologies is going to fundamentally change the way spatial information is used at FEMA."
As part of the announcement, MapInfo will resell Oracle8i and Oracle Spatial, and Oracle will license MapInfo's projection-management technology for future versions of Oracle Spatial. In addition to the new products and cooperative marketing activities this alliance is expected to yield, Oracle has established a consulting practice to deploy and deliver solutions based on the combined technology.
"The market for cross-industry and vertical-specific CRM analytic applications will reach $1 billion by 2002," said Henry Morris, VP for data warehousing and information access at International Data Corporation. "Spatial information can make an important contribution when accessed along with other customer information to better predict how customers will act. The combination of an Oracle spatial information management platform with MapInfo software and data is well positioned to capitalize on this new opportunity."
During the past year, MapInfo has been working with Oracle to develop a comprehensive set of spatial products that take advantage of Oracle's Internet platform by utilizing Oracle8i, Oracle Spatial, and Oracle Application Server. Customers in service industries -- including public services, health care, education, communications, financial services, utilities and retail -- will now be able to deploy Web-based, mission-critical solutions that support thousands of users across an enterprise. MapInfo, a leading supplier of mapping and demographic data, will also offer a complete line of geographic and industry-specific data for use on the Oracle Internet platform. Support for Oracle8i will be available in the following new product versions from MapInfo:
"This relationship with Oracle advances MapInfo's growth strategy to deliver enterprise products and extends our reach into the business intelligence marketplace," said John Cavalier, president and chief executive officer of MapInfo. "By leveraging the power of the Internet to deliver spatial information across the enterprise, this alliance will strengthen our ability to secure large-scale contracts with broad deployment of MapInfo's full product suite."
"To provide the highest levels of service, organizations need to get a complete understanding of their customers and constituents," said Jay Nussbaum, executive vice president of Oracle Service Industries at Oracle. "Spatial and multimedia information contribute to richer, more targeted solutions that make organizations more effective in delivering services. By working with MapInfo, we have a complete set of products, services and content for e-commerce, customer care and data warehouse applications."
Availability and Company Information
MapXtreme for Oracle8i is immediately available. The complete set of MapInfo products supporting Oracle8i, Oracle Spatial and Oracle's Internet platform is slated to be available in June.
MapInfo Corporation is a leading provider of Internet-based products and applications that enable organizations to use location for business advantage. MapInfo applies location to business problems to reveal patterns, relationships and trends in corporate databases and customer information. This leads to better business intelligence, improved customer relations, and bottom line performance, especially for organizations with vast physical and information infrastructures that need to understand marketplace demographics, manage assets, and allocate resources to compete effectively. Headquartered in Troy, New York, MapInfo is a global company with products and solutions available in 20 languages and a network of strategic partners and distribution channels in 58 countries. For more information, visit MapInfo at http://www.mapinfo.com.
Oracle Corporation is a leading supplier of software for information management, and the world's second largest independent software company. With annual revenues of more than $8.3 billion, the company offers its database, tools and application products, along with related consulting, education, and support services, in more than 145 countries around the world.