Sun Microsystems and Oracle target region's small & medium businesses

As a sponsor of the Oracle Partner Network Day conference taking place in Dubai on 25 March, Sun will be exhibiting the Oracle E-Business Suite Special Edition running on a Sun Linux hardware platform.

The companies are working with a network of joint regional partners to offer a comprehensive software, hardware and services solution in response to the rising number of mid-market decision-makers who want the same business functionality provided by similar enterprise solutions, but at an appropriate cost for the Middle East's 'emerging business' sector.

"Mid-market players in the Middle East are most concerned about the time it takes to implement back-office business solutions software and the existence of specific industry sector functionality, as well as overall cost-effectiveness when it comes to enterprise resource planning (ERP) projects," said Pras Abey, Alliance Manager, Sun Microsystems Middle East and North Africa.

"All three of these issues are addressed by this joint solution, including Sun hardware running the Oracle E-Business Suite Special Edition, which combines the region's most widely-used business software with end-user's most trusted platform - Sun -- as well as industry-specific functionality and services provided by key partnerships," said Abey.

The solution as offered by regional Sun and Oracle partners, aimed at organizations with around 10 to 100 employees, is designed to be implemented within a 45-day period. It provides regional SMBs with the reassurance that that their IT solutions are supported by major industry players like Sun and Oracle, and the companies' carefully chosen partners.

The Oracle E-Business Suite Special Edition solution contains industry-specific templates for a number of the Middle East's most prominent business sectors, including financial services, retail, trading, and distribution, the solution covers the financial accounting, sales order management, inventory management and purchasing modules of the Oracle E-Business Suite. A bundled solution available exclusively from more than 10 joint Sun and Oracle partners around the region, comes pre-installed and pre-configured on a Sun Linux server.

"The mid-market is responsible for almost 40 percent of Oracle's business in the region and this figure is set to increase further as demand rises for the joint Special Edition solution," said Ayman Abouseif, marketing director, Oracle Middle East.

"A number of regional attendees of the Oracle Partner Network Day conference are expected to seek distribution opportunities in the Middle East once they see the solution in action and realize just how well-suited it is for this market," added Abouseif.