Small and Medium Businesses Continue to Invest in Oracle Applications Over Microsoft

Midsize Companies Turn to Oracle for Affordable Applications and to Reduce Business Complexities

REDWOOD SHORES, Calif., 08-AUG-2006 Small and medium businesses (SMB) across multiple industries continue to select Oracle after evaluating Microsoft, Oracle today announced. Companies such as Advanced Steel Recovery, Cirro Energy, DTS, First Financials Services Co. LLC, Highland Capital Management, Ikanos Communications, Inphi Corporation, Life Data Labs, Natural Health Trends and Oasis Car Wash Systems are finding competitive value in Oracle(r) Applications and are now equipped with affordable, flexible and scalable solutions to address complex business requirements.

As small and medium-sized organizations are increasingly faced with enterprise-level business complexities, they need functionality to increase visibility, standardize business processes and the flexibility to adapt to market demands. To address these challenges, Oracle’s standards-based applications are being selected over competing vendors - including Microsoft’s solutions for the mid-market - for rich industry functionality, the ability to create a single source of truth and to help lower the total cost of ownership.

“Successful small and medium businesses must find solutions to compete in the global marketplace while controlling costs, effectively allocating resources and reducing business complexities,” said Oracle Vice President and General Manager Lenley Hensarling. “Compared to other software vendors, companies are finding that Oracle is the best IT investment for affordable, scalable, enterprise-level functionality that equips them to meet changing market demands and helps them to increase profitability.”

Highland Capital Management
Highland Capital Management is a rapidly growing investment advisor that currently manages over $26 billion in leveraged loans, high yield bonds, structured products and other assets for banks, insurance companies, pension plans, foundations and high net worth individuals. The firm selected Oracle because it provided the most flexible offering and it also met all of the IT criteria of the parent company and various subsidiaries. Through a partnership with Lucidity Consulting Group, a Certified Advantage Partner in the Oracle PartnerNetwork, Highland Capital completed a seamless implementation of the Oracle E-Business Suite.

“Although we are a mid-sized company, we still needed enterprise-level functionality to tackle our accounting and reporting processes,” said Highland Capital Management CFO David Lancelot. “With Oracle, we now have affordable functionality that has increased the visibility into our reporting and expense practices. We are now equipped to make more accurate, timely business decisions.”

Life Data Labs
Life Data Labs, Inc. is a family owned business that has been in operation for over 30 years. The company services approximately 2,400 dealers and over 10,000 retail customers as well as about 12 distributors worldwide. As a formula-based manufacturer, Life Data Labs was relying on an outdated ERP system that provided limited functionality for deploying new formulas. After considering 8 different software offerings from vendors including Microsoft and SAP, Life Data Labs selected Oracle because it offered superior flexibility and robust functionality.

“We needed to make a software applications investment that could support our diverse customer base and distribution channels,” said Life Data Labs Director of Information Technology Kelly Kutz. “Oracle surpassed other mid-sized offerings in terms of flexibility and also delivers the functionality we need to bring new products to market. We are confident that our decision to invest in Oracle was the best choice for both our business and IT needs.”

Oasis Car Wash Systems
Founded in 1964, Oasis Car Wash Systems is a family-owned and operated manufacturer of high-speed efficient car wash equipment, including touch-free car wash systems. When the company decided to make an investment in an enterprise application suite, it considered Oracle and Microsoft Great Plains. Oasis purchased the Oracle E-Business Suite because it was more affordable, offered better capabilities to manage manufacturing processes and enabled a lower total cost of ownership compared to Microsoft’s offering. The company worked with Lucidity Consulting Group in order to complete the Oracle implementation.

“Relying on Oracle, we now benefit from better inventory accuracy, improved efficiencies in our manufacturing operations and have greater visibility into our financials,” said Oasis Manager, Information Technology David Eckhart. “We were able to implement Oracle Applications in a little over three months and are already seeing a return on our investment. Our selection of Oracle is proving to be a very smart decision.”

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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