BEA Systems

Gartner cautions on Oracle middleware status

Oracle Fusion middleware is currently based on a group of product suites for SOA and BPM that are “assemblies of convenience,” argue Gartner analysts.

The suites are made up of Oracle’s existing product line and the technologies from its acquisition of BEA earlier this year, according to a brief report on the state of the current Oracle middleware offering, Oracle OpenWorld’s Middleware Message Is ‘Watch This Space,’ published earlier this month.

The Gartner analysts note that little was said about middleware in the announcements at Oracle Open World last month other than the announced plan to put Fusion in the Amazon cloud. The roadmap announced this past July for the full integration of the BEA products into Oracle’s middleware will not come until sometime in 2009, Gartner predicts.

Rather than judging the future of Oracle middleware by this interim marketing strategy, Gartner analysts recommend waiting for Oracle Fusion Middleware (OFM) 11g, due in the next six to 12 months.

That release ”will begin to implement the announced road map, and platform modernizations, such as support of OSGi Alliance technology and Service Component Architecture, expanded hot-pluggability, and the extensive use of Oracle Coherence XTP-distributed cache,” the report states.

Sun targets BEA WebLogic users

Former BEA customers, who may be unhappy with Oracle Corp.’s plans for WebLogic as its main service-oriented architecture (SOA) server, are targeted by Sun Microsystems Inc., which today announced a migration program for its JavaCAPS SOA platform. Sun is touting the lower price and open source status of JavaCAPS for former BEA customers looking for an alternative to the Oracle version of WebLogic, said Ashesh Badani, SOA director at Sun.

Continued »

Oracle faces skeptical BEA customer base

The good news for Oracle Corp. is it seems to have acquired a happy BEA Systems Inc. customer base. Yet the bad news for Oracle is that it seems to have acquired a happy BEA customer base that isn’t particularly thrilled with the Oracle purchase, according to a SearchSOA.com poll taken last week.

As Oracle prepares to announce its plans for the BEA acquisition tomorrow it may be facing a customer revolt if it’s not careful. What follows is a summary of the survey findings. The raw numbers are available here.

Who responded?

In all, we received 431 responses. Most of the respondents were BEA WebLogic Application Server and Oracle Database customers (94.90% in each case). Respondents also used a a healthy number of other BEA products (WebLogic, AquaLogic, Tuxedo, etc.), while only a small percentage used non-database Oracle products. Part of this is to be expected as the survey was geared toward the BEA user base. This group indicates that Oracle indeed bought itself a customer segment into which it had little penetration. Of particular note is that not many of the BEA customers were using Oracle’s packaged applications (e.g. financial, CRM, human resources).

Most (58.70%) came from IT shops with 250 or more employees.

Satisfaction levels

75.56 of respondents reported they were either somewhat or very satisfied with their BEA products. That confirms something this industry watcher has heard anecdotally over the years, namely that BEA customers, if not teeming in numbers, were a generally contented lot. 61.26% reported they were somewhat or very satisfied with their Oracle products. The main difference is that 24.83% reported they were neutral in regard to their Oracle products, which is perhaps understandable given that most were database customers and almost 75% of the respondents were either architects or developers, not the sort that falls overly in or out of love with a relational database.

Uneasy masses

87.94% reported they have not yet been contacted by Oracle concerning their BEA products and six months of relative radio silence has seemingly made them nervous. 29.47% reported that they lack confidence that Oracle will continue to support their BEA products and another 44.55% aren’t sure whether that will happen. Oracle has managed to allay similar fears when it has acquired packaged app vendors, but “support” in the development community will mean not only continuing service and support for existing products, but also making sure they keep pace with new advances in the marketplace. This brings us to where Oracle stands to alienate this new customer base if it doesn’t announce and follow through on aggressive plans to move the BEA product set forward (principally WebLogic Application Server).

Potential customer revolt

62.18% of respondents report they will not look to move to comparable Oracle products if their BEA products are discontinued. Another 25.06% report they are unsure on that matter. 77.26% say they do not feel Oracle has a strong offering in the areas where they are using BEA products. Additionally, 70.77% report they will look to replace their BEA installments rather than keep them as legacy if those products are discontinued. It creates a thorny situation for Oracle. It does not have a strong reputation with these, largely, app dev users and they have expressed a clear willingness to jump ship should they not like the course Oracle charts for them. While Oracle surely will look to allay these misgivings in the BEA user base, competitors just as surely will be looking to woo this potential pack of free agents.

Negative impression

Perhaps it can be chalked up to people not liking change or to unhappy customers being more likely to respond to a poll, but 52.43% of those polled reported they have a somewhat or very negative view of Oracle’s BEA acquisition. Another 32.48% voted neutral. The poll indicates that Oracle has a ton of work to do if it wants to win over these BEA customers. This is indeed a new market that Oracle could penetrate in its quest for global software domination, but these users are not rolling out a welcome mat. It may takes years of continuing and advancing key BEA product lines before Oracle can establish itself with these customers, making tomorrow’s announcement only the first step on a political tightrope that stretches beyond the horizon.

BEA, Oracle user survey results

431 total responses

1. Which BEA products do you use? (check all that apply)

Weblogic application server–94.90%
Weblogic portal–27.84%
Other Weblogic portal—12.06%
Aqualogic service design and development tools–18.10%
AquaLogic governance tools–7.89%
Other AquaLogic products–11.14%
Tuxedo–8.12%
Other–9.98%

2. Rate your level of satisfaction with these BEA products:

Very dissatisfied—6.50%
Somewhat dissatisfied–8.35%
Neutral–8.58%
Somewhat satisfied–40.60%
Very satisfied–35.96%

3. Which Oracle products do you use? (check all that apply)

Database–94.90%
ERP/Financial-5.10%
CRM–3.71%
Human resources software–2.09%
Fusion middleware–7.19%
None–2.32%
Other–13.23%

4. Rate your level of satisfaction with these Oracle products:

Very dissatisfied—4.41%
Somewhat dissatisfied–9.51%
Neutral–24.83%
Somewhat satisfied–38.52%
Very satisfied–22.74%

5. Has Oracle contacted you about ongoing support for the BEA product(s) you use?

Yes–12.06%
No–87.94%

6. Do you feel confident the BEA product(s) you use will be given the proper support by Oracle?

Yes–25.99%
No–29.47%
Not sure–44.55%

7. If the BEA product(s) aren’t part of Oracle’s roadmap, will you look to move to comparable Oracle product(s)?

Yes–12.76%
No–62.18%
Not sure–25.06%

8. If Oracle discontinues your BEA product(s), will you maintain it as a legacy system or look to replace it?

Maintain as legacy—29.23%
Look to replace–70.77%

9. Do you feel Oracle has a strong product offering in the areas where you have BEA product?

Yes–9.98%
No–77.26%
Not sure–12.76%

10. As a customer, what is your overall impression so far of Oracle’s acquisition of BEA?

Very negative–12.06%
Somewhat negative–40.37%
Neutral–32.48%
Somewhat positive–10.67%
Very positive–4.41%

BEA, Oracle users quiz

Next Tuesday Oracle will announce its plans for how it intends to integrate BEA inside its corporate walls. While we probably won’t get too many specific product roadmaps, we should get an idea of how Oracle intends to handle the product overlap in the areas of SOA and Java development.

Yet there’s a difference between what Oracle intends to do and how BEA users view the acquisition. In advance of the announcement we at SearchSOA.com are conducting a BEA user quiz to take the pulse of that community. We know that we have a large number of BEA users in our readership and we’re looking to get your input concerning Oracle, BEA and how this deal affects your development plans. It’s a quick that should take only a minute to fill out.

The poll closes at noon EDT on Friday, June 27. We will publish the results next Monday in advance of the Oracle announcement.