Oracle Corp took people from all over Europe to Brussels for the European launch of the first product from the company’s new Office Autmation Division, the Oracle*Mail electronic mail system launched in the US at the end of last year (CI No 1,079), and of CASE*Generator, which generates SQL programs from the companies computer-aided software engineering dictionary. Although described as portable as well as distributed, Oracle*Mail in its first incarnation runs only on DEC VAX/VMS systems and Sun Microsystems workstations; it includes the Oracle database kernel and is priced at a quarter the price of the database itself. It is designed to enable users to send images, spreadsheets and applications as well as test messages to each other, and can exchange files with 1-2-3, All-In-1, Comprehensive Electronic Office, SQLCalc, Uniplex’s Oracle Link, Quadratron’s Q-Office, Applix’ Alis. The next release will include gateways to facsimile and telex. CASE*Generator is claimed to cut by 90% the effort needed to generate simple SQL forms, and by at least 50% that required to generate complex SQL programs, and is a step in the company’s commitment to integrate its software engineering and applications generation tools. On Europe, the company said that it expected its business on this side of the water to reach $190m in the fiscal year just ending, up from just $100m last fiscal. And in the US, Oracle is to move its headquarters to Red wood City, California from Belmont, in two phases; the first phase be ing planned to start in November.
