Cartridges have access to Universal Cartridge Services for installation, registration, instantiation, innovation, administration, monitoring, and security. ICX is an object bus that enables cartridges to communicate with each other across a distributed network. ICX is implemented as a set of libraries that reside on each networked computer. Through ICX, cartridges have access to other cartridges, clients, servers, and services. Scalable cartridge services such as transactions, messaging and queuing, and data access through existing database interfaces are provided.
Cartridges also have access to specialized cartridge services that are host-dependent.
Data cartridges in a database server have access to extensible database services, application server cartridges have access to distribution and load management services, and client cartridges can connect with standard user-interface protocols. Other standard cartridges are available from Oracle, and an open interface is provided to enable other software companies and VARs to integrate their tools and applications. Database services include an extensible query optimizer, an extensible set of access methods, database administration facilities, and a large set of standard data types. Compared to Netscape and Microsoft, Oracle's NCA looks refreshingly customer-centered. In the end, corporate customers don't care about elegance, they simply want to know what technology to use to solve the problem that confronts them.