Tesco chooses Oracle for mainframe update

Retail chain Tesco breathed new life into the mainframe revival with the announcement last month that it was choosing Oracle Financials software to run on its Amdahl computer.

Tesco is the first UK customer to acquire Oracle’s recently announced applications for IBM’s OS/390 mainframe operating system, which will form the bedrock of a three-tier, client/server user environment.

Tesco is in the middle of implementing the Oracle suite, which is due to replace the company’s Millennium financial system in May. The System/390 Oracle financial database will be held on Tesco’s Amdahl mainframe and will support 500 financial staff using general ledger, purchase ordering, accounts payable and fixed assets modules. Tesco accountants at the company’s head office in Cheshunt, and staff in Cardiff and other satellite offices will access the software from PCs connected to local area networks. The applications themselves will run off Unix-driven IBM RS/6000 servers.

‘Oracle Applications for OS/390 allows us to exploit our existing mainframe environment and allows us to use its highly sophisticated disaster recovery system,’ said Ian Stimson, divisional director of Tesco’s computer division.

Patrick Burrows, project manager for the new accounting installation, explained that the 10-year-old Millennium installation, originally supplied by Dun & Bradstreet Software, was ‘heavily bespoked. To cope with the year 2000 we needed a re-implementation. We decided to look further afield’.

The main contenders to replace Millennium were a combination of GEAC’s Millennium and SmartStream packages, SAP’s R/3 and Oracle Financials.

‘We made the decision based on the functionality of the packages. Oracle added some new purchasing functions and fitted more with way Tesco wanted to work,’ said Burrows. ‘Right at the last minute, we realised we could be Oracle’s first UK mainframe site. We decided the pain would be worth it.’

The Oracle application modules are written for Unix systems, hence the IBM RS/6000 servers. But from Tesco’s point of view, holding the database on the mainframe gives it tighter management control as well as better backup facilities.

‘Everyone will sleep better knowing we have a well-established backup routine with file copies held on a system 60 miles away,’ said Burrows.

‘We would have run the application code on the mainframe if we could.’

‘We’re seeing really strong demand for mainframe solutions, particularly from large corporate customers, because they already have investments in mainframes,’ said Jonathan Butler, Oracle UK applications marketing manager.

According to Butler, mainframes have the potential to take a substantial portion of the financial applications market – possibly up to 25% by value.

Oracle is also working on versions of its applications for Windows NT.

‘It’s the same code,’ explained Butler. ‘Working from a mainframe platform customers can use any desktop device. The forthcoming 10.7 upgrade will even work with a Network Computer running Web browser software – almost like a mainframe terminal.’

Tesco’s project manager acknowledged the demand from users for graphical interfaces, but said the company had no immediate plans to build any financial functions around the World Wide Web protocols. But Burrows didn’t rule out the possibility.