by , 2:30 PM EDT, June 30th, 2004
No fewer than three Enterprise developers have announced support for the Mac today. Oracle announced that it will support the Mac platform with Oracle JDeveloper 10g and Oracle Database 10g; NetSuite has announced that it will support Safari for its Web services; and PeopleSoft announced it was extending its support for Safari to cover PeopleSoft EnterpriseOne solutions. The three announcements greatly increase the Mac's support base in the Enterprise and IT markets.
From Oracle:
The announcement of plans to make Oracle JDeveloper 10g available to Apple developers demonstrates Oracle's ongoing commitment to bring their open J2EE productivity framework and visual Java and Web Services development environment to the popular Mac OS X platform. Additionally, with the availability of Oracle Database 10 for the Mac OS X platform, both companies will be able to provide customers a cost-effective, scalable and reliable database solution base on the flexibility of Oracle Database 10g running on Apple's UNIX-based Mac OS X Server and the power of the new Xserve G5.
Oracle says that Database 10g Early Adopters Release 2 is available now, and that a final version of that product, as well as Developer 10g, will be available in the second half of this year. You can find more information at Oracle's Web site.
From NetSuite:
NetSuite, Inc. today became the first application service provider to offer native Apple Safari Web browser support. This provides Mac users an unprecedented opportunity to run their business using the world's most advanced Web-based business application -- NetSuite. NetSuite is a single, integrated software system that enables small and midsized businesses to run their entire business operations -- from sales, customer support/service, and marketing, to financials and ecommerce -- on a single application
You can find more information at NetSuite's Web site.
From PeopleSoft's press release:
The Safari browser delivers the best performance of PeopleSoft applications in the Mac OS X environment, allowing enterprise applications users to maximize productivity. Users of PeopleSoft applications will be able to take advantage of Apple's Safari's unique features including SnapBack navigation--a feature that enables a user to step back through a transaction with a single click rather than many. The tabbed browsing feature will enable users to access multiple PeopleSoft application pages in a single window, which is important in multi-lingual call centers where a customer service agent needs access to applications in more than one language on the same system.
PeopleSoft has certified Apple Safari for Enterprise applications with PeopleTools 8.21 and PeopleTools 8.45. In addition, PeopleSoft plans to complete certification for PeopleSoft EnterpriseOne Tools 8.94 in the fourth quarter.
You can find more information at PeopleSoft's Web site.
That, in turn, is dependent upon two things that go hand in hand: Support from Apple for standards and technologies that are used in Enterprise, and support from Enterprise developers for the Mac. All three of these companies have now greatly increased that level of support for the Mac, which makes the Mac a better option for IT departments. It all feeds back on itself in a what we hope turns into a giant loop.
As we have noted in the past, Apple's efforts to win new Enterprise and IT business has been quiet, but persistent. From having products like Xserve and Xraid, to building support for key technologies into OS X, to developing a dedicated sales channel for the space, to wooing developers, Apple has been working to gain a new foothold in this lucrative space. These three announcements show that effort is paying off, at least to some degree.