Oracle Unveils Partner Enablement 2.0

New Strategy Increases Oracle Emphasis on Partner Education with Comprehensive
3-Tiered Boot Camp approach
SAN FRANCISCO, Sept. 22 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- Oracle OpenWorld --

News Facts

-- Continuing its commitment to further educate and enable its growing
partner base, Oracle today announced a new and improved partner
enablement strategy to provide expanded training and education choices
through new Boot Camp formats, enhancements to the OPN Competency
Center, new Partner Solution Kits and an updated Oracle(R)
PartnerNetwork (OPN) portal.
-- This strategy also utilizes new Web 2.0 constructs to enable more
interaction and collaboration between Oracle and its partners as well
as between partners.
-- Today's announcement represents an increased emphasis by Oracle to
educate and train partners to be better equipped to sell, develop with
or implement Oracle products.

New Partner Training Strategy and Boot Camp Details

The new partner training strategy is comprised of three levels:
-- Tier 1 - Delivered by Oracle University and includes Oracle's Premium
Education offering, instructor-led training and live web class, and an
exclusive Oracle Certification Track
-- Tier 2 - Delivered in-person by third party delivery partners in each
geographic region and includes Open Source Boot Camp content managed by
Oracle Alliances & Channels, online Guided Learning Paths, and
assessments.
-- Tier 3 - Delivered by Oracle via Live Web Classes, leverages identical
content to Tier 2 Boot Camps, includes Online Guided Learning Paths and
assessments

Boot Camps are training programs developed exclusively for partners that
deliver consolidated, concise, intensive and focused training by specific
product area and are:
-- Focused on products recently acquired by Oracle
-- Contain course content (kits) that provide "jump start" implementation
training
-- Free of charge to delivery partners
-- Complement Premier Training by Oracle University
-- Flexible and modular delivery approach
-- Instructor-led "day school" (full week) or "night school" (two
week) options
-- Live virtual classes
-- Sample Boot Camp Bill of Materials includes: overview, scripted course
slides, print-ready workbooks, lab solution files, lab environment,
tools and resources (presentations, project templates, guided learning
path), and assessments).
-- Content is open-sourced. Content for the Boot Camps is contributed by
members of Oracle Product Development, Partner Technical Services
(PTS), regional Alliances & Channels, Consulting and Services teams, as
well as partner contributions through Wikis and other 2.0 vehicles.
-- Boot Camps are currently available for Siebel 8.1 Loyalty & Marketing,
Siebel 8.1 Self Service, WebLogic Server/SOA, Enterprise Content
Management/UCM, OBI/EE, Agile PLM, Oracle E-Business Suite Release 12
Best Practices and Enterprise Performance Management.

Enhancements to the OPN Competency Center
The OPN Competency Center provides a dashboard for evaluating a partner's
skills and competencies. Currently the OPN Competency Center features include:
-- 250 role-based guided learning paths
-- 118 assessment test and 45 Oracle University Certifications
-- Partner skills assessment
-- Progress tracking
-- Localization of guided learning paths
-- Consolidated reporting
-- Availability in all major languages

Just added to the Competency Center is a feature that allows partners to
rate training content, which allows feedback from partners to improve content
and share with others what they find useful.
Plans are underway to further enhance this portal to incorporate more Web
2.0 capabilities that will increase partner networking opportunities.
Partner Solution Kits
Oracle is delivering market-ready Partner Solution Kits
(http://tinyurl.com/3pcc6n) to provide a resource of channel-ready marketing
materials for Oracle 1-CLICK Ordering products that incorporate messaging and
value propositions for end-user clients. Resources in these kits include
printer-ready reference materials and online training and demonstrations. A
typical bill of materials for partner solution kit includes: -- Value
proposition
-- Cheat Sheet
-- Call Guide
-- Sales pitch
-- Collateral
-- Demonstrations
-- Implementation templates and examples

A complete set of 1-CLICK Ordering Solution Kits is currently available.
Additional Solution Kits for Oracle Applications products is planned for later
this year.
Updated OPN Portal
The OPN Portal also has a new home page with new benefits, navigation,
information centers and 2.0 feedback and social community elements. These
capabilities and enhancements are in direct response to partner feedback. Key
new features of the portal include: -- Horizontal navigation - organized
for easy access to information.
Partners can now find all the tools and resources they need in three
clicks or less.
-- "Most Popular Resources" page - Consolidated resources for partners
including quick member links, tips, the most popular partner resources
across OPN according to what their peers are viewing
-- Rotating Features and Hot Areas sections that provide information on
how to expand business through Oracle acquisitions, highlighted case
studies, new programs and upcoming events
-- Knowledge Zones - content repositories that collect key product
information organized around Oracle's key product areas and lines of
business
-- RSS Feeds to allow users to configure their newsreaders to pull news
and content directly from OPN

The new OPN portal pages and Knowledge Zones also provide quick and easy
access to social media tools to allow partners to easily connect to each
other, to Oracle and to customers and prospects.
Supporting Quotes
-- "This is the first time we are taking training to the masses and
providing flexible delivery options for our partners," said Judson
Althoff, Group Vice President, Worldwide Alliances & Channels.
"Additionally, we recognize that our partners have tremendous expertise
and are an excellent resource to contribute to our boot camp
curriculum. Effectively, we are open sourcing the content - so that it
will continually be evolved and refreshed with the most current and
relevant materials related to our expanding product line."
-- "Training and enablement strategies are central to the success of
partner ecosystems, especially in an environment filled with multiple
acquisitions. By continuing to invest in partner performance,
productivity and capabilities as well as program integration, an
organization will create a healthy and profitable partner base. The
channel is continually being challenged to keep up with customers'
increased demand and training is one way to ensure the market needs are
met." Tiffani Bova, VP Research Gartner.
-- "Our clients benefit greatly by having our practitioners exposed to
Oracle Boot Camp content. This fast track training enables our IBM GBS
consultants the ability to more quickly and more efficiently deliver
tangible business results to our joint IBM/Oracle clients." Brian
Mitchell, IBM GBS Oracle Practice Lead Executive
-- "The OPN Solution Kits enable us to immediately talk to our VAR
customers about the value of Oracle products. Additionally, the fact
that the Solution Kits contain Oracle materials for VARs as well as
their end-user customers make them an extremely valuable sales and
educational resource for those looking to implement Oracle solutions."
Stacy Nethercoat, Vice President, Software Product Marketing, Tech Data
Corporation
-- "Educating our sales reps on vendor products is a top priority for
Dell. The OPN Competency Center allows us to quickly get our reps
trained on Oracle Solutions without taking them away from their
customers." Terry Klein, Vice President Advanced Systems Group, Dell,
Inc

Supporting Resources
-- OPN Competency Center (http://tinyurl.com/4odgpv)
-- New Solution Kits (http://tinyurl.com/3pcc6n)
-- Oracle PartnerNetwork Portal
(http://www.oracle.com/partners/index.html)

About the Oracle PartnerNetwork
Oracle PartnerNetwork is a global business network of more than 20,000
companies who deliver innovative software solutions based on Oracle software.
Through access to Oracle's premier products, education, technical services,
marketing and sales support, the Oracle PartnerNetwork program provides
partners with the resources they need to be successful in today's global
economy. Oracle partners are able to offer their customers leading-edge
solutions backed by Oracle's position as the world's largest enterprise
software company. Partners who are able to demonstrate superior product
knowledge, technical expertise and a commitment to doing business with Oracle
qualify for the Certified Partner levels.
About Oracle
Oracle (Nasdaq: ORCL) is the world's largest enterprise software company.
For more information about Oracle, please visit our Web site at
http://www.oracle.com.
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Trademarks
Oracle is a registered trademark of Oracle Corporation and/or its
affiliates. Other names may be trademarks of their respective owners.
SOURCE Oracle

Carol Sato of Oracle, +1-650-633-5551, carol.sato@oracle.com; or Kristin
Reeves of Blanc & Otus, +1-415-856-5145, kreeves@blancandotus.com, for Oracle