MasterCard inks technology deal with Oracle

IDG News Service - Payment processing services company MasterCard International Inc. has cut a deal to embed its technology in Oracle Corp.'s E-Business Suite 11i, a move designed to enable MasterCard customers to rapidly format transactional data and push it through their enterprise resource planning systems and other applications.
The Purchase, N.Y.-based company yesterday announced a program for widespread data integration between MasterCard's own Oracle-based global data repository and users of Oracle's E-Business Suite applications. The technology is now embedded directly into the E-Business Suite and needs only to be activated at no extra cost to the customer, said Phil Philliou, vice president of global e-business and emerging technologies at MasterCard. He noted that the partnership involves joint development and marketing efforts.
"Today you have large companies with Oracle as the backbone, MasterCard being one of them," said Philliou. "You have employees using corporate credit cards to buy things, and what's important from the CIO perspective is that the data comes back into the Oracle environment. Today that doesn't happen in the most efficient way. We worked closely with Oracle to develop a way to integrate that data into the Oracle environment."
This means, for instance, that travel and expense-related information can automatically be formatted and distributed through the relevant Oracle applications, such as the payment module, eliminating the need for manual paper-based processes.
Philliou said some customers are already interested in the technology, but he would not divulge their names at this time. He was also unsure how many joint customers the two companies have in common.
The deal is nonexclusive. For the past two years, MasterCard has offered a similar application for SAP AG software, although it is sold as a stand-alone product. MasterCard also has plans to soon announce a related techology for its joint PeopleSoft Inc. customers, he said.
The Oracle integration feature is available now.