Oracle Emphasizes Enterprise 2.0 Credentials

A year on from staking a claim on the "Enterprise 2.0" landscape, Oracle last week sought to re-emphasize its credentials by briefing analysts and customers on its progress to-date.

The terms Enterprise Web 2.0 and Enterprise 2.0 are often used interchangeably to describe the application of Web 2.0 ideas and technologies within the enterprise. However, a clear distinction exists between the use of these two terms, and this differentiation is important to maintain going forward, as it enables more meaningful discussions to be had when examining the future role of IT within the business.

Building on the somewhat vague and yet particular usage of the term Web 2.0, Enterprise Web 2.0 describes a fresh, and some would say new, approach to the design and provision of business applications that incorporates aspects such as social networking, collaboration, and real-time communication.

In addition, Enterprise Web 2.0 places more emphasis on the user’s "experience" or "joy of use", something of a novelty in enterprise IT these days.

By comparison, Enterprise 2.0 focuses on the composition and architecture of the IT ecosystem, and the associated business models that will support Enterprise Web 2.0 applications. Oracle’s decision to use the tag of Enterprise 2.0 sits comfortably with this terminology, as for the most part Oracle’s primary offerings sit at the infrastructure layer.

Viewed from the perspective of a potential customer, Oracle’s recent acquisition spree has left it with a number of overlapping products, solutions, and technologies in this area. Last week’s briefing therefore provided the company with an opportunity to reposition and re-emphasis its strategy.

Oracle has clearly been busy these past 12 months as evidenced by the release of several offerings that bring the power of Web 2.0 technologies to the enterprise. The company now offers a growing range of integrated tools and services for delivering "context-aware" applications, effectively collaborating, and simplifying the management and archiving of unstructured content. These are the products and technologies previously associated with Plumtree, BEA, and Stellent, all of which have now been subsumed by Oracle.

Oracle WebCenter Suite, one of four portal offerings from Oracle, provides the foundation for the company’s Enterprise 2.0 strategy. This user interaction and portal platform can be used to support and integrate ad hoc and structured business processes, and is also suited to custom and packaged enterprise applications.

Oracle’s new collaboration platform, Oracle Beehive, is an open platform for integrated and secure collaboration, and marks Oracle’s third attempt to break into the enterprise collaboration market. Oracle recently acquired the intellectual property assets of California-based Tacit Software for an undisclosed sum to expand its collaboration platform, and so it will be interesting to see where this takes Oracle.

It is clearly a mistake to think that Web 2.0 is all about technology, and likewise Enterprise Web 2.0. But it is also a mistake to dismiss the technology altogether. Selecting and implementing enterprise social software solutions, next-generation collaboration solutions, and Rich Internet Applications requires careful thought, consideration, and planning.

Organizations must now consider Oracle’s credentials and capabilities along with those of its competitors in this important new area.

Author: Richard Edwards @ www.computerwire.com

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Oracle vs. SAP revisited

Much of the Oracle vs. SAP talk we’ve heard recently has centered on the $1 billion lawsuit filed by Oracle against SAP.

But what about the Oracle vs. SAP battle outside the courtroom?

The two software giants have had a more longstanding feud in the applications space, and a new Forrester research report just declared a new winner. The report ranks Oracle’s application strategy ahead of SAP’s, a change from two years ago when Forrester said SAP was winning its war with Oracle.

The 2006 report credited SAP for the momentum it was gaining from its NetWeaver platform. That, along with SAP’s strong partnership strategy and customer base, put the company ahead of Oracle, Forrester analysts said.

Now, it looks like the promise of Fusion Applications is putting Oracle on top, at least in the eyes of analysts. The new Forrester report says that while SAP is simply focused on getting customers on its latest ERP software release, without looking ahead to the future, “Oracle’s vision for the future of its apps business is now clearer and more compelling,” according to this ITWorld article.

But whether Oracle stays on top is up to them: “If Oracle Fusion Applications fall flat, SAP wins by forfeit,” the report said.

Oracle may be winning the ERP applications battle, but let’s take a look at some other areas, many in which the fight is tough to call — who do you think emerges as the winner?

Customer Relationship Management (CRM )

Last year, analysts named SAP as No. 1 in CRM, ahead of Oracle’s Siebel CRM. It was reported that while Siebel was more widely deployed, SAP’s strategy of bundling CRM with ERP and other deals helps them drive in more revenue. Gartner’s 2008 Magic Quadrant report also showed SAP gaining the most ground in CRM.

What about the future? While Oracle is adding social networking to its CRM offerings, SAP’s hiring of former Oracle executive John Wookey, who has a strong CRM background, just may keep SAP on top.

Business Intelligence (BI)

SAP and Oracle both recently made major BI acquisitions, but it may be awhile until we see just how successfully they play out. SAP purchased Business Objects last year, and at this year’s TechEd conference, the CEO of Business Objects, John Schwarz, announced that the SAP BI product line will be supported through at least 2016. However, it will eventually merge with Business Objects to become one product line. Schwarz said that the company “brings new value for SAP customers by giving business users access to information without IT having to become involved.”

After Oracle acquired Hyperion last year, Charles Phillips, Oracle’s president said, “”We now have the most comprehensive BI product line.” Oracle executives also said the acquisition would allow them to offer a more holistic approach to BI, even when faced with the challenge of “addressing fragmented business challenges.” It should be interesting to see how.

Web 2.0

Since this is a relatively new area, and organizations are just starting to jump into Web 2.0, it should be interesting to see how Oracle and SAP choose to do so. In September, Oracle previewed new Web 2.0 and social CRM applications at Oracle OpenWorld. Earlier this year, SAP expert John Reed thought SAP had not yet caught up to Oracle:

”The problem is that SAP has yet to build a Web 2.0 tool set for its own customers that is fully integrated into SAP. In my opinion, this is one of the few areas where Oracle, with its WebCenter 2.0 toolkit, is well ahead of SAP. But SAP will get there,” Reed said.

There are endless ways we could compare these two software giants, but what do you think? In these areas (or in areas I didn’t address) who do you think is stronger — Oracle or SAP? Or does choosing one over the other simply depend on the needs of your organization?

Author: Shayna Garlick @ eyeonoracle.blogs.techtarget.com

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Oracle: Barclays Trims Ests, Target; But Stays Bullish

Barclays Capital software analyst Israel Hernandez this morning trimmed EPS estimates for Oracle (ORCL), while cutting his price target on the stock to $22 from $27. His EPS estimate for the May 2009 fiscal year drops to $1.44 from $1.55; for FY 2010, he goes to $1.55, from $1.76. The new numbers are below the Street at $1.49 and $1.66, respectively.

For FY Q2 ending November, he now sees 33 cents, down from 36 cents, and below the Street at 35 cents.

Hernandez wrote in a research note that the lower estimates reflect - surprise! - the deteriorating macro environment and currency headwinds. He sees ‘09 license growth down 4%; he previously had been expecting 10% growth. But Hernandez says that maintenance growth should provide offset to a decline in new license.

Hernandez asserts that “it is prudent” to lower estimates here, given “lower closure rates” anbd a contraction in IT spending over the next several quarters. He also notes that the current Oracle guidance for Q2 came in mid-September, before the height of the financial and credit crisis.

Nonetheless, he maintains an Overweight rating on the stock.

ORCL today is up 39 cents, or 2.4%, to $16.77.

Source: Eric Savitz @ blogs.barrons.com

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Universities to employ Oracle software program

Vietnam’s education ministry recently signed an agreement with an international software corporation on applying advanced computer science into information technology teaching at a select group of universities.

Under the agreement signed on Tuesday, 25 universities will be able to access the technical curriculum and students can gain exposure to modern software as part of the Oracle Academy program developed by Oracle Corporation.

Students will also have opportunities to develop their business and technology skills, giving them an edge when entering the world labor force in the 21st century, said Ho Thanh Tung, general director of Oracle Vietnam and Indochina, at the signing ceremony in Hanoi.

The agreement was signed between the Administration for Information Technology under the Ministry of Education and Training and Oracle Vietnam Pte. Ltd. – a subsidiary of Oracle Corporation.

The universities participating in the program include Hanoi University of Technology, Da Nang University of Technology, and member schools of Vietnam National University-Hanoi and Vietnam National University-Ho Chi Minh City.

Oracle Corporation is one of the world’s leading software companies. The California-headquartered company specializes in developing and marketing enterprise software products.

Oracle Vietnam was established in 1995 in Hanoi and now has a representative office in HCMC.

Source: www.thanhniennews.com

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Court says Oracle must pay Arizonans by California standards

Arizonans working in California are covered by the Golden State’s overtime laws, according to the U.S. Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals.

The Ninth Circuit said in a ruling in the case Sullivan v. Oracle Corp. that employees living in Arizona and Colorado but working in the company’s home state are subject to California’s employment rules.

Workers had sued Oracle arguing they should receive more compensation based on California’s overtime rules. Oracle contended the employees were subject to compensation laws in their home states.

The Ninth Circuit ruling overturns a California district court decision siding with Oracle.

James Hart, an employment attorney with the law firm Littler Mendelson PC who is familiar with the case, said businesses with California operations need to examine payroll and other practices to make sure they adhere to that state’s overtime and labor laws.

Source: phoenix.bizjournals.com

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Wipro and Oracle Launch OZONE

Wipro Technologies, the global IT services business of Wipro, and Oracle have announced the launch of the innovative solutions lab - OZONE, at Wipro's Electronic City facility in Bangalore.

Services provided at OZONE will help joint Wipro and Oracle customers to define their IT roadmaps. The new lab will provide customers with the opportunity to test the adoption of Oracle Application Integration Architecture (AIA), Oracle Fusion Middleware, and Oracle's industry applications.

The lab can demonstrate end-to-end industry-specific processes and solutions, which leverage Oracle's portfolio of existing as well as newer Oracle software, and showcase innovative joint solutions developed by Wipro. This facility will also be used to co-develop solutions across specific industry processes in human capital management, customer relationship management and supply chain management.

The solutions being currently developed in the lab include process integration packs (PIPs) built on the Oracle Application Integration Architecture for the Communications Industry which are being co-developed and jointly marketed by Oracle and Wipro.

"The Oracle solution lab underscores our joint commitment to delivering competitive business value to service providers worldwide, by helping them transform their businesses, launch next-generation services and offer superior customer experience" said Judson Althoff, GVP (worldwide alliances and channels) of Oracle.

Source: www.cxotoday.com

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Oracle Rolls Out VAD Remarketer Program

The VAD Remarketer Program makes it easy for resellers to start selling Oracle products. Oracle has launched its VAD Remarketer Program with its distributor, Tech Pacific (India) Limited in India. The Oracle VAD Remarketer Program enables Tech Pacific to resell Oracle technology products through its resellers throughout India, without requiring the resellers to join the Oracle PartnerNetwork (OPN).

The VAD Remarketer Program makes it easy for resellers to start selling Oracle products and extend the Oracle portfolio to their customers without having to make up-front financial investments to build an Oracle practice. Resellers can leverage Tech Pacific for support, training and other reseller services.

Oracle 1-CLICK ORDERING streamlines channel order-processing time. Products in the Oracle 1-CLICK ORDERING Programs category include Oracle Database Personal Edition, Oracle Database Standard Edition, Oracle Database Standard Edition One, Oracle Application Server Standard Edition, Oracle Application Server Standard Edition One, Oracle Business Intelligence Standard Edition One, Oracle Weblogic Server Standard Edition, Oracle Universal Content Management Standard Edition, Oracle Document Capture and Oracle Internet Developer Suite.

According to Sanjay Achawal, director, enterprise business group, Tech Pacific (India) Limited, "The key feature of the Oracle VAD Remarketer Program is that it eliminates start-up costs and makes Oracle products easily accessible. We are confident that our partners would be excited, as they would see great opportunity to engage in this business. This would help them offer a variety of Oracle-based solutions to customers which was not feasible earlier."

"With the launch of this programme, we are making it easier and more profitable for resellers to make available Oracle technology products to mid-size businesses," said Sukhdeep Singh, senior director, distribution and commercial channels sales, Oracle Asia Pacific. "Channel partners are a vital extension of our sales ecosystem. In Asia Pacific, approximately 80 per cent of our business is managed by our partner community."

Roadshows and product knowledge sessions are planned in Chennai, Bengaluru, Delhi and Mumbai to create awareness amongst Tech Pacific India's reseller base.

Source: www.efytimes.com

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Oracle names young exec to head RP unit

Business software maker Oracle Corp. has picked a young-looking Filipino executive, Ryan Guadalquiver, as the new managing director for its Philippine subsidiary.

Guadalquiver was formally introduced in his new role last week when he represented the company in the signing of a memorandum of understanding with the Department of Education.

His age cannot be ascertained, however, as the company did not give any profile on the official and refused to entertain questions from the media regarding the appointment.

Not much is known about Guadalquiver, who did not rise from the ranks but is now tasked to lead one the biggest software subsidiaries in the country. Apart from various business software offerings, Oracle still commands a lion’s share of the database market in the local market.

Guadalquiver is the second Filipino country manager of Oracle Philippines after Bernard Yu, who stayed at the helm of the company for almost a decade. After Yu stepped down, two foreign-born executives Yashi Kant and Francis Ong served successive terms as country manager.

Prior to his new post, Quadalquiver was the Oracle’s country director for technology. A colleague, Mina Lim, temporarily served as officer-in-charge of the company before he formally took over last week.

Guadalquiver is also said to have worked for mobile operator Globe Telecom before jumping over to Oracle about two years ago. Employees at Globe could not confirm this, however.

Guadalquiver will be reporting to Oracle Asean managing director Natasak Rodjanapiches, who is also in charge of Oracle Thailand.

Author: Melvin G. Calimag @ www.mb.com.ph

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Oracle earnings stress sector’s dollar woes

When Oracle, the world’s second biggest software company, reports its latest earnings on Thursday, it will highlight an inconvenient truth for the US technology industry: the big lift the sector has had in recent years from the weakening US dollar is over, at least for now.

In its fiscal year to the end of May, roughly a quarter of Oracle’s reported revenue growth came from foreign currency translation effects, as the falling dollar increased the value of its overseas sales. Given their strong position in large parts of the global technology market, many other US tech companies have seen similar lifts from their big overseas positions.

Currency adjustments have contributed nearly half of the revenue growth at software makers Symantec and Autodesk in the first half of this year, according to an analysis by Citigroup.

A bounce in the dollar since July, particularly against the euro, has put at least a temporary end to that benefit, just as tech companies are bracing for a downturn in demand due to the weakening economy.

Adobe, another big software concern, said this week that, in its most recent quarter, foreign currency adjustments had actually depressed its reported revenue slightly compared with the preceding three months, the first time for several years currencies have not provided a tailwind.

Since Wall Street generally looks at year-to-year growth rates rather than quarter-to-quarter, the full impact of the stronger dollar, if it holds, will not be felt until next year. However, the dollar bounce will also have an immediate impact in at least two ways.

For fast-growing companies whose growth is judged on a quarter-to-quarter basis, the currency tailwind of recent quarters will turn into an immediate headwind. That is still the case with Google, at least when it comes to the “whisper number” that Wall Street uses each quarter to assess the company’s earnings, said Sandeep Aggarwal, an analyst at Collins Stewart.

“It is significant for Google,” Mr Aggarwal added. “It is a trend reversal, after 10 quarters of positive impact.” Foreign currency earnings have helped to support Google’s growth rate as it has hit the inevitable slowdown that comes with reaching massive size.

Revenue growth in the second quarter fell to 43 per cent from 63 per cent a year before, but would have slumped to 36 per cent had it not been for a weaker dollar.

A second immediate effect will come as Wall Street analysts start to revise their earnings forecasts for next year to reflect the new exchange rates.

Author: Richard Waters @ www.ft.com

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First Niagara Financial Group Selects Oracle CRM On Demand

Community bank will initially roll out product to all 114 bank branches.

First Niagara Financial Group (Lockport, N.Y.), a community-focused bank that provides financial services through 114 branches and four regional market centers across upstate New York, has selected Oracle (Redwood Shores, Calif.) CRM On Demand to address key sales and customer insight challenges the company faces.

The new Oracle CRM On Demand implementation will help deliver better cross-sales and up-sales by measuring overall revenue and number of products sold over time, customer loyalty capitalization, better reaction to acquisitions and added lines of business, as well as increased visibility into customer profiles, trends and forecasts for higher customer satisfaction and new sales. First Niagara Financial Group will initially roll out Oracle CRM On Demand to all 114 bank branches, and plans to roll out to other regional offices in the future.

Source: Peggy Bresnick Kendler @ www.banktech.com

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Former Oracle apps development exec said to be joining SAP

John Wookey taking new job at Oracle arch rival, source says; SAP declines to comment. John Wookey, who left his position as senior vice president of applications development at Oracle Corp. last fall, is taking a job with Oracle's bitter rival, SAP AG, according to a source with knowledge of Wookey's plans.

SAP spokesman Saswato Das declined to confirm or deny the hiring of Wookey when reached on Monday. "We always want to inform our employees about any company news first," Das said. "We have nothing to say on this matter until we have a chance to brief our people."

Oracle officials didn't immediately return a message seeking comment on the matter, nor could Wookey himself be reached. It wasn't clear what his role at SAP would be.

Wookey was a key figure behind Oracle's long-percolating Fusion Applications strategy, which will combine elements of the vendor's various business software lines into a new suite. His departure from Oracle in October 2007 prompted questions about the status of the Fusion project, but the precise reasons why Wookey left haven't been publicized.

Since his departure from Oracle, Wookey has seemingly kept a low profile, perhaps due to a noncompete agreement. Meanwhile, Oracle still hasn't set a firm release date for the initial version of the Fusion suite, but company officials said in September that they hope to deliver the applications to early users before the end of next year.

The news of Wookey's apparent hiring by SAP prompted a thumbs-up from China Martens, an analyst at The 451 Group. Wookey "brings a wealth of ERP experience to SAP, both from his days at Oracle and at Ross Systems," Martens said. Ross Systems, an Atlanta-based ERP vendor, was acquired by Hong Kong-based CDC Corp. in 2003 and now is part of that company's CDC Software unit.

Author: Chris Kanaracus @ www.computerworld.com

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Oracle buys Tacit IP

Oracle has bought the intellectual property of Tacit Software and hired all of its software engineers. The terms of the deal were not disclosed.

Tacit is the company behind illumio, a SaaS collaboration and "expertise location" platform, and ActiveNet, an on-premises product with a similar purpose.

The system doesn't require users to maintain profiles; instead, a plug-in that is installed locally tracks their activity and builds a "dynamic, highly accurate profile of their expertise," according to the illumio website.

Oracle has bought the Tacit IP in order to boost its Beehive collaboration product, launched at its recent OpenWorld conference. Beehive combines features such as conferencing, email, calendaring, instant messaging and workspaces.

Author: Chris Kanaracus @ computerworld.co.nz

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Oracle mostly backs Tanner on Web 2.0

The Australian government's approach to information management has previously often been "grandiose" and overly simplistic, according to Oracle's Australian division, which today mainly backed comments by finance minister Lindsay Tanner that the government needed to adopt Web 2.0-style tools.

Writing on Oracle Australia's The Red Room blog, the company's local content management spokesperson Paul Ricketts said the challenge for those like Oracle that sold web and enterprise 2.0 technologies to Australian governments was challenging an old-style mindset that has persisted since electronic document and records management systems (EDRMS) first went on the market.

"Departments brought off on the grandiose idea that they would be able to effectively manage electronic and physical documents through a single solution — allowing their content-creation processes to be supplemented by formal records keeping procedures within a single solution," he wrote.

However, added Ricketts, in many cases only the records management portion of such systems was actually implemented, with associated document creation environments often deemed too hard or unnecessary for departments, with the result that additional constraints were placed on workforces.

Tanner yesterday admitted that government agencies lagged the rest of the world when it came to the use of information technology. He also flagged the government's intention to trial web 2.0 technologies next year — such as allowing staff to post blogs — to adapt policy-making to today's technologies.

"The Australian Government could and should be leading the way in adapting our old processes of consultation, engagement, policymaking and regulation to the connected world. Yet we lag behind other nations in both the scale and pace of reform," he said.

Ultimately, Oracle appeared to agree with the minister's sentiments. "We think that Mr Tanner is onto something here, the government is the largest manager of information and needs to look to implement a more open approach for the access of information — both internally and externally," wrote Ricketts.

However the executive said that for Tanner's approach to be successful, government agencies must "embrace the thought that their staff and their customers will require an easy-to-use solution that provides information in context and enables participation within the process."

The executive admitted this sounded like "a load of marketing speak", but said the truth was that ease of access to organisational information required radical re-thinking in the way it was presented to end users.

"Simply deploying a solution that implements 'Windows Explorer' on the web isn't good enough, and nor is a solution that implements itself as a raft of non-integrated silos of information," he said.

Instead, Ricketts said, good use of search technology was key, rather than old-style directory navigation.

For example, he said, contextual search would allow users to retrieve information on taxes on Christmas tree sales from the Australian Taxation Office. Taking it to the next step, users should be able to start online conversations around those specific tax rules. "This is what we call participation," wrote Ricketts.

However, Ricketts wrote, one of the challenges involved was security, especially where government departments were liaising with external parties. "Information, and I'm referring primarily to documentation (Word, Excel, PPT in general), can be leaked to the public or to the press accidentally or otherwise," he said.

"Security needs to be tightly integrated into any environment where participation or collaboration is enabled and it isn't as simple as introducing a directory-service with authentication, unfortunately."

Author: Liam Tung, ZDNet.com.au

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Oracle buys Tacit Software's intellectual property

Corporate software maker Oracle Corp. said Monday it purchased the intellectual property rights of Tacit Software Inc. for an undisclosed sum.

The company said it will fold Tacit's automated profiling technology into Oracle Beehive software, which is used for Web conferencing, instant messaging, email, calendar functions and team workspaces.

Palo Alto, Calif.-based Tacit Software makes Illumio, software which enables employees to find and share information and knowledge by automatically routing questions to the employee with the knowledge on the subject. The company also makes ActiveNet, which allows employees to connect on key topics to solve problems and address issues.

In morning trading, Oracle shares fell 15 cents to $18.14.

Source: www.kiplinger.com

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Al Safeer Group to roll out Oracle Retail

UAE retail conglomerate the Al Safeer Group has selected Oracle business applications to help it improve management of its operations.

The group will deploy Oracle Retail applications, E-Business Suite and database, across all of its operations in retail, real estate and entertainment, which will replace a diverse base of legacy systems. The new systems are intended to allow the group to have better control and insight into financial operations, and to improve supply chain efficiency.

“Oracle will help enable Al Safeer to improve our business performance by streamlining and integrating processes into a single cohesive enterprise and taking a best-practice approach to managing our information. This can only help us serve our customers better,” said Mahesh Kalwani, COO, Al Safeer Group.

The Oracle retail applications will be used to give better management of inventory and better insight into performance of retail stores, Al Safeer Group’s core activity. Services company Satyam will provide implementation, consultancy and training services to the group to enable it to get the most from the deployment.

Patrick Bohannon, vice president, EMEA, Oracle Retail commented: “Al Safeer’s selection of Oracle Applications will help its decision-makers to turn reliable and timely information into make insightful and profitable business decisions and deliver an enhanced customer experience.”

Author: Mark Sutton @ www.arabianbusiness.com

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