NHS trusts face race to order Oracle estate as EWA nears end

Channel looks to help health customers take advantage of six-month price-drop window

Oracle partners have a six-month window to help NHS customers take advantage of hefty discounts as the vendor's enterprise-wide arrangement (EWA) progresses towards its end.

The existing multi-year EWA, which concludes in June 2014, covers about £56.25m worth of licences purchased centrally and available for use by local trusts. Until April of next year, the vendor is giving trusts the chance to organise their own perpetual licence agreements at large discounts.

The savings are understood to equate to the kind of huge cost reductions offered to the Cabinet Office. The three-year deal announced by Francis Maude in March is estimated to save the department £25m a year.

The EWA covers a range of Oracle products including database, enterprise management, dev tools and data warehousing technologies. To take advantage of the discount offers, trusts need to compile and submit detailed usage reports.

Trustmarque is one Oracle partner that is hoping to help its NHS customers get up to speed on the changes to the way they purchase licensing. The York-based VAR is hosting webinars and will also be attending a series of events held by Oracle and Connecting for Health (CfH).

Andrea Perrot, solutions manager for enterprise software at Trustmarque, said: "As with other recent software EWA activities, trusts will be taking this very seriously. They need to declare their usage to Oracle and it has to be as accurate as possible. We are talking to customers and also encouraging people to go to the roadshows.

"Trusts may not previously have had to deal with [these arrangements] because of the EWA, and this is an opportunity for them to talk to Oracle and CfH. It is excellent news that the huge discounts negotiated by the Cabinet Office are now available to the NHS."

Events take place in London in Oracle's City office today and the vendor's Blythe Valley Park facility in Birmingham on Tuesday. The following day a roadshow is being hosted in the Bristol Hilton, while Trustmarque is also hoping to host an event at its York HQ on 14 December.

An update posted on VAR Bytes' website estimates that the Oracle offer gives trusts the opportunity to shave 25 per cent off the total cost of ownership of their licence estate.

"Now is the time to ensure your Oracle estate is in order and, if you need to procure any licences, ensure you do so before the end of April next year," explains the post. "Bytes can assist with this process. Oracle licensing can be very complex so working with a partner such as Bytes is essential to ensure this goes smoothly and your estate is correct."

The Oracle agreement will be the latest in a succession of software EWAs to be phased out, as deals with Microsoft, Novell and McAfee have all come to an end in the past couple of years.