Bytes achieves Oracle SOA Specialised Partner status

Bytes Systems Integration, part of the Bytes Technology Group, has achieved Oracle’s Specialised Partner status for service oriented architecture (SOA).

Oracle’s Specialised Partner Programme has been created with a view to offering customers the assurance that the Oracle partners they use have the correct level of skills to implement Oracle products. As a company that has built its reputation on ensuring that solutions implementations are performed by highly skilled people, Bytes Systems Integration is a perfect fit with this programme.

According to Mark Neethling, Divisional Manager at Bytes Systems Integration, in order to be a part of the Specialised Partner Programme, Bytes has chosen certain areas in which to specialise. The first of these, in which the company has recently been awarded Specialised Partner status, is that of service oriented architecture (SOA).

“There are enormous benefits to both Bytes and Oracle in being a part of this global programme. Our organisation has had to achieve a very high level of technical competency with regards to the Oracle products that we use. This has meant our technical people have undergone various learning paths and have then had to write exams to prove that they have the capabilities demanded of the programme,” he says.

“We have also had to provide references to demonstrate that we have effectively implemented the Oracle solutions and have made customers happy. For Oracle, this means that they can provide future customers with the assurance that – when working with Bytes – they are getting the highest quality service, backed by best practice.”

From a Bytes perspective, Neethling adds that Specialized Status differentiates its business from the competition through its proven in-depth expertise in Oracle products. In addition, customers prefer specialized partners as they have proof that they will be engaging with an insightful, knowledgeable partner who is expert in the defined product. This, he says, has been the incentive for Bytes to go through the intense effort and expense of becoming a Specialised Partner. As an existing Oracle Gold Partner, Bytes can now also brand itself as a specialised SOA Gold Partner.

“Bytes has been putting in place a substantial cloud strategy, and being an SOA Specialised Partner aligns nicely with this overall strategy. It puts us a step ahead of the competition in this respect, as we are now able to further leverage off our significant knowledge of SOA.”

He indicates that this is just the first of several Specialised Partner badges the company plans to achieve.

“We are well on our way to achieving our second specialisation, which is focused on ExaLogic, Oracle’s elastic cloud offering. Ultimately, our aim is to become one of Oracle’s most significant partners in the sub-Saharan Africa region. To this end, we will be investing in a bouquet of specialisations that play to our strengths in the cloud arena,” he continues.

These strengths include BytesNet, the company’s large MPLS network that is supported by fibre optic cable in SA and the rest of Africa, as well as Bytes’ high end data centres. The organisation’s strategy moving forward, suggests Neethling, includes leveraging off this existing infrastructure, as it continues to develop its cloud offerings.

“Bytes is already a worldwide member of the Oracle Partner Network. We plan to leverage this further, as we aim – in the near future – to achieve the highest partner level available, that of Oracle Platinum Partner. Furthermore, from an African perspective, our goal is to continue in our role as a major player in the sub-Saharan region, by becoming the number one cloud systems integrator, along with Oracle. Ultimately, we aim to be the leaders in this space,” he concludes.