Jordan Times
Sunday, May 20, 2007
MoICT, Oracle-UTS
set up foundation for future cooperation
AMMAN — Oracle Corporation-United Technology Solutions (UTS) and the Ministry of
Information and Communications Technology (MoICT) on Saturday, signed a
memorandum of understanding (MoU) setting up a foundation for a strategic
framework agreement that will be signed by the two parties later this year.
This agreement will establish a long term relationship between the ministry and
Oracle-UTS and will entail adopting major Oracle products and services. It will
also define and budget future procurement of Oracle products and services and
their usage in government entities.
MoICT Minister Bassem Roussan, Oracle EMEA Executive Vice President Sergio
Giacoletto, and UTS Chairman Akram Abu Hamdan, signed the strategic MoU on the
sidelines of the World Economic Forum.
“This cooperation between the MoICT and Oracle-UTS is essential to building
capacity in the Jordanian ICT market, a long standing strategic objective of the
ministry,” Roussan said.
The agreement will be fulfilled by UTS, Oracle’s strategic partner for
government. Abu Hamdan said: “UTS will bring about a set of added-value services
which includes consultancy and training programmes that will enable the
government to build capacity to reach a stage whereby the employees can
self-support the installed applications and develop additional applications to
integrate with the core Oracle applications”.
The Development and Investment Projects Fund (DIP) has recently acquired 50 per
cent ownership of UTS, which will assist the company in widening its scope of
activities and initiating new investments such as the establishment of the
Oracle Academy in Jordan and seizing other key opportunities in Jordan and the
region.
Giacoletto presented this initiative to His Majesty King Abdullah in 2006. The
Oracle Framework Agreement with the government of Jordan also entails the
inclusion of all Oracle products within government entities, as well as future
purchases of Oracle technology and application licences with preferential
prices. This will enable the government to procure Oracle products at discounted
prices with a simplified purchasing process.
Oracle will reinvest over $1 million in consultancy and training services and an
additional $2 million in Oracle application licences to be utilised with
upcoming key projects at various ministries within the government.
Oracle’s commitment to the ICT sector in Jordan extends beyond this investment
by continuously recruiting fresh Jordanian graduates who receive extensive
training at Oracle offices in Amman. Trainees are later placed in the Jordanian
ICT industry to support Oracle operations in Jordan and the region.
This ongoing recruitment and training will continue year-on-year to support
local ICT graduates to be trained by Oracle and placed in the industry and
consequently assist in reducing unemployment within the ICT sector.