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SAN FRANCISCO--([ BUSINESS WIRE ])--Accenture (NYSE: ACN) was awarded the [ 2012 Oracle Excellence Awards for Specialized Partner of the Year a" North America ] in three categories today at Oracle OpenWorld in San Francisco.

"Accenture has demonstrated an outstanding level of innovation in delivering proven, Oracle-based solutions that solve our joint customersa most critical business challenges"

Accenture was honored for its work in technology momentum, engineered systems momentum and utilities. [ The Oracle Excellence Awards for Specialized Partner of the Year - North America ] encourages innovation by Oracle PartnerNetwork (OPN) members, who use Oracleas products and technology to create value for customers and generate new business potential.

The awards reflect Accentureas success in adopting OPNas Specialized approach which is aimed at enabling partners to establish industry recognition by following a formal process to become Specialized in key Oracle solution areas.

Since the award program was launched in 2004, Accenture has won a total of 14 Oracle awards in North America. This is its fifth award for technology momentum in seven years. Accentureas awards were in the categories of:

Technology Momentum: This award recognizes Accentureas efforts to increase customer acceptance and market share of Oracle Database and Oracle Fusion Middleware. Over the past year, Accenture increased its investment in Oracle technology, including the [ Accenture Foundation Platform for Oracle ] (AFPO), a reference architecture and implementation guide pre-integrated with more than 30 Oracle Fusion Middleware products. AFPO helps to reduce implementation efforts by as much as 30 percent while increasing quality and reducing risk. AFPO delivers a functioning development environment on day one so that clients can begin customizing and integrating the very next day. In the past year, adoption of AFPO grew from 14 clients to more than 50.

Engineered Systems Momentum: This award recognizes outstanding partner contributions to Oracleas continuing strategy to increase customer acceptance for Oracle Engineered Systems and generate new Oracle business. Across Oracleas technology portfolio, Accenture developed repeatable assets on the Oracle Exalogic Elastic Cloud and Oracle Exadata Database Machine engineered systems.

In March, Accenture used an Oracle Exalytics machine to create a powerful proof of concept using Oracle Business Intelligence Foundation Suite, Oracle TimesTen, Oracle Essbase and Oracle Endeca Commerce to show clients how predictive analytics across both structured and unstructured data can drive decision making at all levels of the enterprise. Using publically available data from the New York Stock Exchange, the proof of concept showed how Oracleas latest technologies can enhance an existing business intelligence systema"in this example, by quickly analyzing and aggregating 350 million stock exchange trades into a meaningful presentation to enable faster decision making by investment fund managers.

Accenture is currently conducting a proof-of-concept with a customer to enable faster-to-market analytics by replicating or aggregating transactional data directly in-memory using Oracle Exalytics.

Utilities: Accenture worked closely with Baltimore Gas and Electric Company (BGE) in modernizing the companyas legacy customer information system by providing a suite of Oracle Utilities products as part of a transformational strategy focused on enhancing customer service a" including introducing new technologies and innovative services to better serve customer needs a" providing more transparency into customer and revenue cycle processes, while streamlining and simplifying business processes.

aBGE and Accenture have a superb track record of teaming together to deliver strategic initiatives focused on enhancing the customer experience,a says Stephen J. Woerner, senior vice president and chief operating officer for BGE. aAccenture played a key role in the successful implementation of a modern customer billing system, replacing our more than 20-year-old customer information system. Accenture also assisted us in effectively managing significant changes across the enterprise, including the back office and customer contact center, so that our employees, and in particular, customer care representatives, were ready for day onebusiness and technical operation.a

BGEas implementation of a suite of Oracle Utilities technologies is one of the most transformational customer initiatives BGE has undertaken in more than two decades, providing the foundational system for all customer operations and positioning BGE to deliver smart grid capabilities for the benefit of its customers.

This yearas winners were selected from more than 247 nominations in 32 categories submitted by Oracle business partners. Accenture will receive the awards at a special ceremony on October 2.

aOnce again weare thrilled to be recognized for our technology excellence and accomplishments in helping clients succeed with Oracle solutions,a said Terri Strauss, managing director, North America Oracle Practice at Accenture. aThese awards are a great acknowledgement of the innovative work carried out by our teams every day, delivering real business value to our joint clients.a

aAccenture has demonstrated an outstanding level of innovation in delivering proven, Oracle-based solutions that solve our joint customersa most critical business challenges,a said Andy Bailey, senior vice president, Strategic Alliances, Oracle. aWe congratulate Accenture in achieving the 2012 Oracle Excellence Award for Specialized Partner of the Year a" North America in these various categories. This achievement is a testament to their dedication to excellence and to providing customers services that drive real business value and results.a

Accenture is a Diamond level partner in Oracle PartnerNetwork (OPN) a" the highest level available in OPN a" and has completed 34 Specializations, including seven Advanced Specializations.

About Accenture

Accenture is a global management consulting, technology services and outsourcing company, with 257,000 people serving clients in more than 120 countries. Combining unparalleled experience, comprehensive capabilities across all industries and business functions, and extensive research on the worldas most successful companies, Accenture collaborates with clients to help them become high-performance businesses and governments. The company generated net revenues of US$27.9 billion for the fiscal year ended Aug. 31, 2012. Its home page is [ www.accenture.com ].

About Oracle PartnerNetwork

Oracle PartnerNetwork (OPN) Specialized is the latest version of Oracle's partner program that provides partners with tools to better develop, sell and implement Oracle solutions. OPN Specialized offers resources to train and support specialized knowledge of Oracle products and solutions and has evolved to recognize Oracleas growing product portfolio, partner base and business opportunity. Key to the latest enhancements to OPN is the ability for partners to differentiate through Specializations. Specializations are achieved through competency development, business results, expertise and proven success. To find out more visit [ http://www.oracle.com/partners ].

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