ORCL: Oracle Announces Tools for .NET that Strengthen Integration with Microsoft Visual Studio

Oracle today announced the general availability of Oracle(r) Developer Tools for Visual Studio .NET, a free plug-in that enables developers to use Microsoft Visual Studio 2005 to develop and deploy Microsoft .NET Framework-based applications with Oracle Database 10g. Oracle also unveiled a new release of Oracle Data Provider for .NET in support of ADO.NET 2.0, Microsoft's standard for data access.
Oracle's support of Visual Studio 2005 and ADO.NET 2.0 helps developers to be more productive building .NET applications and Web services with Oracle Database 10g. The latest version of Oracle Developer Tools for Visual Studio .NET includes features such as an integrated debugger that enables developers to debug PL/SQL stored procedures and functions from within Visual Studio 2005. Oracle Data Provider for .NET helps developers to access information from the database more efficiently. Specifically, they can take advantage of the unique performance, reliability, scalability and security capabilities of Oracle Database 10g such as application security context, clustering, and native Oracle data types such as LOBs and REF Cursors.

"Delivering deeper integration between the Oracle Database and the Windows platform is a priority," said Andy Mendelsohn, senior vice president of Database Server Technologies, Oracle. "Our continuing investment in these developer tools reinforces our commitment to .NET and enables .NET Framework-based developers to help maximize the performance of their applications by exploiting the capabilities and power of the Oracle Database."


City of Rotterdam, EDS, Intergraph, Lipper, Micro Focus, NEC, OSK, and Spatial Eye Among Varied Entities Relying on Oracle's New Integration Tools for .NET
Customers such as City of Rotterdam, Lipper Inc., NEC and OSK, and Independent Software Vendors (ISVs) such as EDS, Intergraph, Micro Focus, and Spatial Eye, among others, are taking advantage of Oracle's offerings for .NET to ease integration and help increase the performance and availability of their .NET applications with Oracle Databases.

Lipper, a wholly owned subsidiary of Reuters, is a leading global provider of mutual fund information and analysis to fund companies, financial intermediaries, and media organizations. The firm, founded in 1973 and headquartered in New York, tracks 135,000 funds worldwide through its offices in major financial capitals in North America, Europe, and Asia. Lipper expects to use Oracle Data Provider for .NET with ADO.NET 2.0 for a new application scheduled for production this winter that will support 100,000 users accessing a terabyte of data. Oracle Data Provider for .NET's performance tuning features such as associative arrays, statement caching, and REF Cursors, deliver fast data access for Lipper's application. Because the application must be accessible for a global user base of institutional and retail customers, Lipper will rely on Oracle Database 10g Release 2 and Oracle Real Application Clusters to help ensure high availability and scalability. With Oracle XML DB, Lipper can manage their XML content in the database more efficiently to enable faster delivery of their solutions to market.

"We're taking the best of both worlds - .NET and Oracle - to give us the best platform possible," said Bill Evjen, Technical Architect, Lipper Inc. "Oracle Data Provider for .NET is vital to the success of our next-generation application."

NEC, headquartered in Tokyo, Japan, is a leading provider of systems, components, services and integrated solutions for computing and communications applications, as well as semiconductor solutions. NEC's Enterprise Solutions Business Unit uses the latest version of ODP.NET as part of its System Director Enterprise solution, a system that helps integrators develop high-quality business applications quickly. NEC takes advantage of ODP.NET's new support of ADO.NET 2.0 and unique performance features, such as parameter array binding and PL/SQL associative arrays. Parameter array binding improves application performance while PL/SQL associative array facilitates sharing large amounts of data between Oracle Database and the .NET Framework. With ODP.NET, System Director Enterprise increases system integrator productivity by 30 percent.

Long-standing Oracle Commitment to Windows Platform
Since 1985, Oracle has helped thousands of customers build mission-critical database systems on the Microsoft platform. Oracle is a Premier partner in the Microsoft Visual Studio Industry Partner (VSIP) program, and as a result offers tight integration between Oracle Database and Microsoft Visual Studio and Windows Server 2003. Today, Oracle offers Oracle Database for 32-bit and 64-bit Windows Server 2003. Additionally, Windows customers can take advantage of Oracle Real Application Clusters which allow them to turn a cluster of low-cost, industry standard servers running Windows into a highly available, scalable and secure platform for running database and packaged applications.

Availability and Pricing
Oracle Developer Tools for Visual Studio .NET with support for Visual Studio 2005 is generally available for download at no cost from Oracle Technology Network (OTN) at:
http://www.oracle.com/technology/tech/dotnet/tools/index.html .

Oracle Data Provider for .NET in support of ADO.NET 2.0 is generally available for download at no cost from OTN at:
http://www.oracle.com/technology/tech/windows/odpnet/index.html .