THE BOTTOM LINE

Oracle's 9i application server leverages Oracle's database into a platform for e-commerce and application data access. 9iAS is a robust development environment, not a customizable application. Organizations without high transaction volumes or data-based applications will find it difficult to reap returns from an investment in 9iAS. Nucleus recommends customers negotiate at least a 40 percent discount on software if they hope to get a positive ROI. Companies should be cautious to ensure that they actually need and can rapidly reap benefits from the wealth of functionality in the product.