Oracle: Partners with specializations are much more successful
Oracle's partner community had a "phenomenal" fiscal 2012, but those who achieved official specializations did far better than ones who didn't, a top Oracle executive said during an event on Tuesday.
Specialized partners closed three times as many deals as non-specialized ones, and those transactions are 50 percent larger, said Judson Althoff, senior vice president of worldwide alliances, channels and embedded sales. Althoff revealed those details during Oracle's fiscal 2013 partner kickoff event, which was webcast.
"We're focusing on specialization because we think it makes you sell better," Althoff said. Of course, Oracle also generates revenue from specializations, which are offered in silver, gold, platinum and diamond tiers, with fees rising accordingly. Read more...
W3C offers two new platforms for developing Web standards
Hoping to broaden the input from users, the W3C (World Wide Web Consortium) has established two new virtual working spaces for individuals and organizations to develop specifications, the organization announced Tuesday.
The idea behind these platforms is to further speed the development time of new Web technologies, noted Ian Jacobs, head of W3C communications. Advocates of a new technology can use W3C resources to organize their efforts and prepare a specification to submit to the W3C's more formal recommendation track.
The first platform, Community Groups, will allow anyone, at no cost, to create or participate in a working group. The groups themselves will decide on the topics and how to govern themselves. Read more...