April, 2009

Oracle users can attend Collaborate 09 virtually

Coming to the rescue of cash-strapped IT professionals unable to attend Collaborate 09 in Orlando (May 3-7) the Independent Oracle Users Group (IOUG) announced it will be hosting virtual sessions. IOUG officials said that companies registering at least one employee for the conference are then eligible to set up virtual access for everyone in their organization.

The IOUG plans to offer 40 virtual sessions over the course of the conference. IT professionals interested in Webinar sessions, which range between 30 minutes up to two hours, can be customized to best suit their specific educational interests.

Conference officials explained that obtaining a license for one seat provides unlimited access to virtual sessions.

“We recognize companies everywhere are looking for ways to save. This option takes into account economic conditions while still allowing members to get value from networking, continuing education and best practice sharing,” said Ian Abramson, President of the IOUG.

Collaborate 09 organizers, which also include the Oracle Applications User Group and Quest International Users Group, said they expect 5,000 people to attend the conference to be held at the Orange County Convention Center West.

Those interested in registering for virtual attendance can do so at:  http://www.ioug.org/collaborate09/attending/virtual.cfm.

If you are planning to attend Collaborate 09 virtually, let us know. If you have attended other Oracle conferences virtually, let us know what your experience has been and we’ll share it with the rest of the SearchOracle.com community.

Will Oracle be the good shepherd for open source?

With its acquisition of Sun, Oracle, like it or not sports fans, is now the steward of the open source community. It is now Oracle’s opportunity to take open source technologies up to the next level of acceptance in corporate America — or not.

My guess is they will pursue that opportunity. Not necessarily out of any sense of contributing to the greater good by encouraging the spread of free software to IT shops strapped for cash in recessionary times, for instance. It would have more to do with the fact that there is money, good money, to be made by committing more deeply to open source technologies.

This should not surprise anyone. After all, this is the company that jacked up its licensing fees some 15 to 20 percent last year, right around the time the recession was crushing the economy.

I really don’t have any problems with vendors large or small, making as much money as they can from open source. If Oracle can intelligently and fairly find a way to charge Oracle and Sun users for open source products and associated technical services, it could lay down a business model that the rest of the open source world could follow. With greater revenue streams generated, more jobs can be created among both vendor and IT companies, which would result in more useful products delivered and greater productivity.

Lord knows many Linux distributors and other open source software developers have had their chance over the past decade to establish growing and profitable businesses. But with the exception of Red Hat and possibly Novell, none have succeeded at sustaining a largely open source business capable of generating hundreds of millions in revenues. Sun is the other possible exception here. A recent Goldman Sachs report estimated that the company’s Java-based revenues could approach $300 million in the current fiscal year ending in June, but even that tidy sum was enough to allow the company to continue under its own steam.

But Oracle, with revenues of $25 billion and significant market share in multiple enterprise software markets, is in a strong enough position to show the industry how real money can be made in open source world.

The biggest change Oracle has to make to achieve this goal doesn’t depend largely on clever ways of blending of open source and its proprietary products, although it will have to do some of that vis-à-vis positioning and pricing strategies, but on taking a more enlightened approach to attracting new customers. Yes, I’ll say it, we need to see a kinder, gentler Oracle coming into this market.

There is a way to achieve a balance that allows the company to continue to compete aggressively without trying to win the Albert Schweitzer Award for Humanitarianism .

And why not be kinder? The company can’t charge major companies such as IBM or SAP any more for licensing Java. Those licensing fees are protected under long term contracts and can’t be touched until they come up for renewal. The same goes for Sun’s corporate users, particularly those locked into multi-year support and maintenance deals.

Instead of tossing aside good products from Sun such as the MySQL and Glassfish, Oracle could put development monies into enhancing them and making them even more useful to customers. In doing so they could also serve as effective weapons against Microsoft in the lower end of the market. More than a few open source users have told me they would be willing to pay for products such as MySQL and Glassfish if they can continue to deliver good ROI and be properly maintained for a reasonable fee.

There is no need for Oracle to be overly protective (read greedy) of its higher end proprietary databases and applications. That business is solid and under no immediate competitive threats, even from IBM.

I’ll give Oracle the benefit of doubt here; it is still early in a process that will take a year or two to fully play out. The company may find the right balance between its software-as-a-contact sport approach and being a more enlightened leader that could bring the open source and proprietary worlds together in a way that profits everyone.

How will the Oracle-Sun deal affect you?

Since the Monday morning announcement of the Oracle-Sun deal, we’ve already heard a lot about how the merger will affect Oracle: how it will help the software giant get ahead of IBM in a wide range of software and hardware markets, and help it better compete  against other archrivals in the enterprise Java arena, for example.

But what kind of effect will the deal actually have on the everyday life of IT professionals like you?

Site Editor Ed Scannell and I talked with Independent Oracle Users Group president Ian Abramson about the Oracle-Sun deal, including how the acquisition will affect the Oracle user community. Since the deal was just made this week, it’s difficult to accurately  predict its repercussions for users. But Abramson discussed some possible scenarios that the Oracle user community could see, including:

The Oracle-ization of Java: Abramson pointed out that while Oracle will gain greater control of Java, it may also take it one step further with an “Oracle-enhanced version”. He said that if Oracle repackaged and repurposed Java like it did with Linux, leaving the industry standard version alone, it could be beneficial to the Oracle community.

Lower maintenance costs: Abramson also said a reduction in support and maintenance fees is possible with the “consolidation of all these different support organizations, and Oracle’s ability to support a complete technology stack.” He thought this is something the user community is ultimately hoping for.

Other Oracle experts and analysts from around the Web have also weighed in on how Oracle’s latest acquisition will affect customers — especially with Java and MySQL. SearchEnterpriseLinux.com’s Leah Rosin examined the open source community’s reaction to the deal. While she found that many were worried about this being the end of MySQL, others more hopeful because of Oracle’s commitment to Linux.

Blogger Frederic Paul says that while the Oracle-Sun merger may result in more efficient technologies, it will also “reduce choice.” Still, he points out that nothing will change immediately and customers will have plenty of time to plan ahead.

And while many seem to think MySQL’s fate is sealed, many others - like analyst Michael Dortch– think Java should be safe. Analyst Dana Gardener agrees, pointing out that Oracle will keep Java to stay strong against its main Java competitor, IBM.

What was your reaction to the Oracle-Sun deal? How do you hope Oracle utilizes its new technologies? What are you most hopeful about? Worried about?

Oracle’s cloud confusing strategy

It’s difficult to understand what exactly Larry Ellison’s problem is in using the phrase cloud computing.

Despite the statements made at OpenWorld last September where he said - “maybe I’m an idiot, but I have no idea what anyone is talking about (in regards to cloud computing). What is it? It’s complete gibberish. It’s insane. When is this idiocy going to stop?” — Larry Ellison is no idiot. We know you know what it is, Larry, and why it represents a different approach for users.

His reluctance to use the term could have something to do with his belief that he has been there and done that with Oracle’s grid computing initiatives over the past decade. It could involve something more serious like wanting to slow the acceptance cloud computing because it reduces IT shops’ costs which could threaten Oracle’s lucrative maintenance revenues and software licensing renewals.

But that can’t be it. He knows that cloud computing, Software-as-a-Service and some forms of virtualization are an inevitability because they can save users precious dollars in their shrinking IT budgets. He can’t be totally against that.

What has confused people further is Mr. Ellison’s recent lapsing in and out of admitting and then denying Oracle even has a cloud computing strategy. One day he is belittling the idea of cloud computing and that he doesn’t need to go there, the next he is boasting that Oracle has a more aggressive and forward thinking cloud strategy than competitors such SAP.

I am not the only one trying to figure out Mr. Ellison’s word games or if the company actually wants to have a strategy. When I asked an analyst with a top-tier market research firm to help me sift through the tangle of products that make up Oracle’s would-be cloud computing strategy he couldn’t.

“I think the reason you’ve been having trouble is simple: Oracle doesn’t have a cloud computing strategy. They have tactical and experimental initiatives only. My bet: They buy their way into cloud sometime in the future,” he wrote back in an e-mail.

Great. An opportunity to spread rumors about what company Oracle might buy so it can to jump into yet another market. While I am on the soap box, let me just say a merger with EMC, owners of VMware, would be an excellent candidate given its cloud computing initiatives.  Those rumors can swirl around with those that have Oracle interested in buying Sun and Red Hat the last month or so.

But when it comes to making money from users needing solutions involving cloud computing concepts and products, Mr. Ellison has no problem with terminology.

In one notable example, Harvard University last year was shopping around for a cloud-based solution when a scientist there saw a posting on an Amazon Web services Web site from an Oracle executive. The posting asked that anyone interested in experimenting with Oracle data bases in the cloud to contact the company.

Harvard responded and less than two months later it had a cloud-based solution up and working with an Oracle database, Ruby on Rails, and OpenXava. Harvard’s Laboratory for Personalized Medicine is now using cloud computing services to run virtual services to run clinical trials, and is reportedly pleased with the solution. See Larry? Not so hard.

Further evidence that Oracle is interested in putting together a cohesive cloud computing strategy was put on display six months ago when it announced users could license Oracle Database 11g, Fusion Middleware and Oracle Enterprise Manager to run in a cloud computing environment. Not just that but the first available products would work with Amazon’s Web Services’ Elastic Compute Cloud environment.

Maybe we just need to be more patient with Mr. Ellison, there is some evidence he may actually be softening up on the issue. Again in a meeting with analysts a few months ago he talked about wins Oracle had racked up against archrival Salesforce.com describing one as the “largest deal ever of salesforce-on-demand, or cloud computing, or whatever you want to call it.”

Not exactly waving the cloud computing flag high and wide but he seems to be making progress.

Incriminating evidence that Oracle is interested in putting together a cohesive cloud computing strategy was put on display six months ago when it announced users could license Oracle Database 11g, Fusion Middleware and Oracle Enterprise Manager to run in a cloud computing environment. Not just that but the first available products would work with Amazon’s Web Services’ Elastic Compute Cloud environment. So what’s the big deal with all this?

Say it Larry, just say it: Cloud computing.

Oracle still interested in planes, trains and automobiles

As the owner of one of the world’s largest yachts and an avid racer, Oracle CEO Larry Ellison can probably handle his boat in just about any fleet.

Now, his company has released an application to help its customers do the same — in a slightly different way. Oracle Fleet Management, a component of Oracle’s newly released Oracle Transportation Management 6.0, will help users manage fleet and common carrier networks through a single platform. The tool can be used for all kinds of private fleets, including trucks, trailers and ocean freighters.

Oracle Transportation Management 6.0, announced Tuesday, is the latest update to Oracle’s global transformation management system. Oracle Transportation Management, part of the Oracle E-Business Suite, integrates and streamlines transportation planning, execution, payment and process automation in a single application across all modes of transportation, according to Oracle.

In the first major update to the management system in nearly three years, version 6.0 allows users  to manage transportation by third parties.  In an eWeek article, Derek Gittoes, vice president of Logistics Product Strategy for Oracle, says that manufacturers will be able to manage both their own drivers and those of third-party fleets  reportedly a first in the commercial software market. This release is also reportedly the first in the industry that combines shipment and asset-centric transportation solutions.

But will customers want to invest in this technology in the down economy?

According to Oracle, version 6.0 should actually help customers save on transportation and fleet management costs. The tools will reduce fuel costs, support sustainability, and measure and control financial performance, according to the company.

This isn’t the first time  Oracle has used the recession to invest in niche markets or offer enterprise businesses cost effective solutions. In February, for example, it released two new risk management applications, which Oracle believes will prove  cost effective for users  in the down economy. The software giant also continues to invest in eSourcing tools — including its newly released Oracle Sourcing on Demand — which helps  IT shops to save money by negotiating online with suppliers.

How has the recession affected your Oracle-related spending? Have you been able to take advantage of any of these supposedly cost effective tools?