Update: Oracle adds Google Maps to Field Service

Oracle is integrating one of its applications with Google’s mapping service to help service providers locate customers more quickly.

On Tuesday, Oracle said it had integrated the API (application programming interface) for Google Maps for Enterprise with the Field Service piece of Oracle E-Business Suite 12. Field Service helps companies manage the process of sending staff on service calls and predict when those employees will arrive at the customer sites.

Customers have been asking Oracle for map enablement of its applications, according to Guy Waterman, senior director, product management, at the vendor. “We’re planning in a very near term release to do the same for Siebel Field Service,” he said. Another of Oracle’s application product families, Siebel is focused on CRM software.

Using the Google Maps API, dispatchers should now also be able to find routes for their field service personnel to reach customers more quickly. At the same time, technicians can get a better sense of the location of their jobs by viewing those destinations on Google’s map or its satellite images.

Waterman gave some other scenarios where the integration of Google Maps and Field Service could prove helpful. For instance, if technicians finished an appointment early, they could check the map to see if any regular preventative maintenance calls they expected to make within the next five days were nearby, he said.

Service dispatchers could also use the map to check the location of resources that a technician might need to complete a job — for example, a service depot or a retail store close at hand where they could access a particular part. Should an urgent request for service come in, say, a network outage, a dispatcher could quickly see from the map which technician was in the vicinity of the affected customer and redeploy them to that site, Waterman added.

Bringing together content from a number of sources in an application or a Web site is proving very popular among software vendors and is often referred to as a mashup. Google Maps is one of the most frequently used APIs in mashups since it adds a useful visual element to applications.

The link-up with Google Maps is the first official integration with a mapping service that Oracle has announced, Waterman said. The vendor does plan to offer integration with other mapping services, particularly those with good coverage outside of North America.

Oracle began the rollout of E-Business Suite 12 in January. Other new features in Field Service 12 include support for tasks lasting multiple days and the ability to track customers confirming their service appointments. There’s also an administrator’s portal to assist schedulers in handling jobs assigned to in-house or to third parties across time zones and geographies.

The Google Maps integration is also available for Oracle Field Service 11.5.10.

Similar integrations between Oracle applications and other third-party offerings are likely, Waterman said, particularly involving network monitoring and other alerts sent to the software from mobile devices. For instance, alerts about changes in conditions such as a service truck breaking down or a sudden change in temperature in a refrigerated unit, he added.

In other Oracle news, the vendor announced Symantec is an enterprise storage management partner for its Unbreakable Linux support program. The program provides support for users of Red Hat’s Enterprise Linux distribution, regardless of whether they are Oracle software users, at aggressive price points.

Oracle and Symantec have certified Symantec’s Veritas datacenter software with Oracle Enterprise Linux and guaranteed to provide enterprise-level support for both the storage and the Linux offerings. The agreement covers six Veritas products: Storage Foundation 5.0, Storage Foundation for Oracle 5.0, Storage Foundation Cluster File System 5.0, Cluster Server 5.0, NetBackup 6.0 Client, and i3.

While Oracle claims demand is growing for its support program, the vendor has yet to provide precise figures on user uptake. In March, Oracle CEO Larry Ellison said publicly that Unbreakable Linux had got off to a “very strong start” and committed his company to building a Linux business, while cautioning that such a process would take time.

This story was updated on July 17, 2007.