In January Acorn was able to announce the Development and Licensing agreement with Oracle. This was won against competition from other potential partners from around the globe. It was the Acorn architecture, software, hardware and systems expertise all within a small (relatively!) and responsive group that attracted Oracle. The Reference Designs for Oracle are a challenge but can be satisfied in the short term by calling upon the many technologies that Acorn have developed over the years and through us partnering with our valued developer base. In the longer term this agreement offers us the opportunity to take these developments forward, faster than we alone could have achieved and then have them marketed on a global rather than national scale. To address this new opportunity, Acorn has formed a new division, 'Network Computing'. This includes the majority of the development capability from Online Media as well as a number from ART. This new division will create the designs for Oracle and also be the source of Networking Computing products (a complete range of designs, in time) for distribution through Online Media and the new Education JV with Apple. Altogether, there is a bright future for the Acorn architecture. ======================================================================= Malcolm Bird Tel: +44 1223 518518 Chief Executive Fax: +44 1223 518520 Acorn Network Computing 645 Newmarket Road Newmarket Road email: mb...@omi.co.uk Cambridge CB5 8PB website: www.acorn.co.uk