Priced to move

Oracle has decided to price OCS very aggressively to break into some of the market segments.

Oracle has decided to price OCS very aggressively to break into some of the market segments. Web conferencing and content management were two areas that Oracle wanted to focus their efforts.

There isn’t a “base” or “per server” charge for OCS; it is priced purely on user counts. So, a small business with 10 users could quite literally pick up the entire Oracle Collaboration Suite for $600. With that small investment, this small company can Web conference as much as they need for no additional cost. (For Web conferencing, external participants are not considered licensed users.) Furthermore, this same investment could provide an e-mail, calendaring and file management infrastructure.

It’s not quite a “free lunch.” You’ll still need to provide the servers that OCS runs on, as well as the IT staff to maintain it. And, as small business owners are keenly aware, dedicated IT staff is often a luxury that a limited budget can’t provide. But, the software cost is no longer a barrier to entry.

Back to review: “Oracle Collaboration Suite”