Are there any .NET data providers for Oracle that do not require the Oracle Client to be installed?

Question

I am developing a rich client application that will use the Entity Framework (with DevArt's DotConnect for Oracle) to connect to a central Oracle database. However, I have found that this scenario requires every client machine to have the Oracle client installed in order to connect to the Oracle 10g server. Is there an easy way around this? Do the other types of Oracle providers (ODP.NET, EntLib Data, MS .NET Oracle provider) have the same requirements?

EDIT: Thanks to tuinstoel, I've done more research and confirmed that DevArt's dotConnect can be run in Direct mode which does not require the Oracle Client software to be installed. This should solve my issue of connecting to Oracle using the Entity Framework. I also plan to connect to Oracle using a DbConnection, for which I can also use DevArt's Oracle provider. My issue now is that I cannot get the Direct mode to work.

Answer 1

Yes there are third party providers... see this one

Answer 2

odp.net requires the installation of the Oracle client.

I read on Devart's site that you don't (always) need a Oracle client when you use Dotconnect to Oracle:

dotConnect for Oracle offers two connection modes to the Oracle server: connection through the Oracle Call Interface and direct connection over TCP/IP. Applications written with dotConnect for Oracle are easy to deploy, do not require installation of Oracle Client Software, and tend to be faster than those that use other data connectivity solutions.

So why this question?