HP forges internet alliance with Oracle

Vendor admits missing out on first stage of net boom.

Hewlett Packard plans to combine its online brokering middleware, espeak, with Oracle's 8i development environment.

Announced at HP World in San Francisco last week, the vendor hopes the alliance will help it become a force in what it terms "chapter two" of the internet, after admitting it missed chapter one.

Carly Fiorina, recently appointed chief executive of HP, acknowledged the firm's weaknesses and said it would focus on the wider picture rather than worry about the "nitty gritty of technology".

Addressing delegates at HP World, Fiorina said: "HP has been accused of doing too many different things. You deserve our focus. We will concentrate on the total experience you get from us. We owe you a clear vision and will concentrate on carrying that out well."

She also acknowledged that HP staff have been accused of being too concerned about the company's stock price than striving to address customers' needs.

The agreement with Oracle centres on what HP describes as next-generation portals. Users will be given the ability to pick and choose the online services they want to receive and from whom, using HP's espeak technology.

Espeak allows sites and services to find, collaborate and broker with other online services so that they can update each other when information on their sites is changed.

Oracle and HP will also set up expert centres worldwide to help customers, including ISPs, ASPs and online businesses, develop Oracle 8i-based espeak services.

Rajiv Gupta, general manager of the open services operation at HP, said agent capability would become pervasive on the internet within the next two years, adding that HP was negotiating with potential hosts of espeak agents, including Merrill Lynch, Qwest, SAP and Helsinki Telecom.

HP also expects portal suppliers to include espeak in their services.

It recently unveiled a deal with Yahoo to build My Yahoo portals for corporates.