Microsoft 'leapfrogs' Oracle with DATAllegro buy, analyst says

Microsoft Corp. said today it will buy data warehouse appliance maker DATAllegro Inc., a move that one analyst said should help the software maker gain a technical edge over market leader Oracle Corp. in the high-performance business intelligence market.

Financial terms were not disclosed. Microsoft said it will integrate DATAllegro's technology into its SQL Server database, for which a new version, SQL Server 2008, is expected in several months.

"For the first time ever, Microsoft has leapfrogged Oracle at the high end of the database market," wrote independent database analyst, Curt Monash, a former Computerworld columnist, in an e-mail. "Of all the data warehouse start-ups, DATAllegro was the one whose technology could be most smoothly rolled into Microsoft's or Oracle's product line. Microsoft was smart to snatch DATAllegro up."

DATAllegro specializes in server appliances that come installed with a version of the Ingres database optimized to handle as much as hundreds of terabytes of data.

One DATAllegro customer reportedly runs data warehouses totaling 450TB.

"While several other data warehouse start-ups have achieved more overall customer success, DATAllegro is second only to Teradata in proven high-end data warehouse scalability," Monash wrote.

James Kobielus, an analyst at Forrester Research Inc., also praised the buy "as a smart one."

DATAllegro has "a strong product, robust technology, skilled engineering team, and world-class hardware partnerships (including EMC, Dell, Cisco and Bull)," he wrote. It also greatly boosts Microsoft, which was a "relative laggard" in the growing data warehousing appliance market, he said.

Kobielus added that this also "sets the stage for rapid data warehousing vendor consolidation" and driving companies such as "Oracle, SAP and HP, in particular, to make strategic acquisitions" of DATAllegro's competitors, which include Netezza Corp., Greenplum and Dataupia Inc.

The 5-year-old Aliso Viejo, Calif., start-up was probably not hurting for cash. It received nearly $20 million in Series D funding in May, and has taken about $64 million in venture capital since its founding.

Most of DATAllegro's team will remain in California, and existing customers will be supported.

This article has been corrected since initial publication to reflect that Ingres is in fact the underlying database for DATallegro.

Author: Eric Lai @ www.computerworld.com

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Oracle Makes Secure Web Access Management Push

The Oracle identity and access management bundle is a shot at securing Web-based cloud environments better than Oracle rivals Sun, CA, IBM and Novell.

Oracle has bundled together a suite of access management products in a bid to help enterprises secure their Web-based environments and to challenge its main rivals in the space.

The new offering is called Oracle Access Management Suite, and combines Oracle Access Manager, Adaptive Access Manager, Identity Federation and Entitlements Server into one integrated suite, with each also being sold separately. The plan, according to officials at Oracle, is to distance the company from competitors by targeting Web-based architectures with a broad, integrated collection of products.

"A large number of our customers … use the Web as a channel to deliver services to their communities, which could be consumers, partners, students and employees," said Amit Jasuja, vice president of identity management at Oracle. "For them security and the cost of delivering security is an important concern. With the suite, we're offering our customers an integrated approach that can lower the cost and complexity of the solution and deliver a higher level of security."

The Web focus provides several key benefits, Jasuja explained, such as real-time theft prevention through continuous session monitoring, the use of single sign-on for all Web applications and standards-based cross-company boundary single sign-on for partners that are Web-based service providers.

Of the four products, Oracle Entitlements Server (PDF) is the only new entry to the company's product lineup. The product was acquired from BEA Systems, where it was called BEA AquaLogic Enterprise Security. According to Oracle, Entitlements Server enables application developers to externalize and centralize authorization policies that previously would have been embedded within applications. The product supports a number of environments, including Oracle WebLogic Server, Microsoft .NET Framework and IBM WebSphere Application Server.

"What this set of products does provide early indication of is how access decisions are going to move away from being based solely on static account privileges within applications," said Forrester Research analyst Jonathan Penn. "These decisions will move to a more centralized environment—the entitlements management system—where real-time data regarding user context and other information will contribute to the decision-making."

Challenge to Competition

In tying all these products together, Oracle is issuing a challenge to its main competitors in the identity and access management space, which include Sun Microsystems, IBM, CA and Novell. Jasuja contends that none of the other companies can offer as broad a product suite as Oracle. However, CA, for example, has made a push around Web access management with its Secure Web Business Enablement suite through products such as CA SiteMinder Web Access Manager, which includes Web SSO (single sign-on) and entitlements management.

"From a marketing and customer acquisition perspective, [Oracle has] moved aggressively against Sun and IBM," said Gartner analyst Earl Perkins. "I don't know that these particular capabilities are differentiating enough, but it does expand their portfolio into areas that Sun and IBM haven't addressed comprehensively."

Oracle's move comes as analysts continue to predict the growth of the identity and access management market, which according to estimates from Forrester Research should hit $12.3 billion by 2014. Enterprises, Perkins said, are seeking a means of addressing complex federation requirements as they delve further into the Web and its services.

"The fine-grained entitlements server is a significant step in addressing a common approach to externalizing authorization decisions from applications rather than embedding them as most enterprise apps do," Perkins said. "This is a required step in preparing for SOA [service-oriented architecture] secure access going forward."

Author: Brian Prince @ www.eweek.com

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Quantix win Oracle Support Contract with First Bank of Nigeria (FBN Bank UK Ltd)

Quantix Ltd, a leading Oracle Support & Managed Services specialist, announces a contract win with FBN Bank Ltd.

FBN Bank’s core business application, Flexcube, (now owned by Oracle Corporation) is a mission critical application central to the banks trading activities. Traditionally this solution has been supported by a combination of in-house generalists and 3rd party support providers. To further enhance their levels of customer service and increase application resilience, FBN Bank reviewed their current support procedures and determined a more specialist Oracle support provider was required.

Quantix were invited to tender for the support of Oracle database and Oracle application systems and after a stringent due-diligence process and service evaluation period, it was agreed by FBN Bank’s senior UK management team to award the support contract to Quantix. The due-diligence process consisted of an in-depth of review of Quantix’s financial stability, market position and internal support and security procedures, along with discussions with existing clients of Quantix in the Banking and Finance industry.

Simon Goodenough, Sales Director at Quantix said:
“Quantix are delighted to have FBN Bank onboard as a new client and are looking forward to delivering a range of Oracle database support services for them. We are proud of our specialist Oracle service which gives us the ability to deliver pro-active, real-time support and identify database and application issues before they become a problem. Due to our size, location and experience we are finding that there is substantial interest in the City currently for our cost-effective range of remote Oracle (and Microsoft SQL Server) Services and FBN Bank is just one of the latest financial organisations to deploy this support solution.”
The pro-active services provided by Quantix for i-flex customers have already seen immediate benefits for FBN Bank in the areas of application performance and business continuity. In addition, Quantix have implemented a real-time, 24x7 pro-active management solution to deliver best-in-class mission critical Oracle support. Internally this has enabled FBN Bank to make significant costs savings, whilst receiving the peace-of-mind that their i-flex environment is optimised and stable.

The Head of IT at FBN Bank said:
"Previous to engaging the Oracle database support services of Quantix we had been reliant on an unreliable and unprofessional DBA services company who could not appreciate the critical nature of our banking systems. Quantix have introduced real-time monitoring and remote management to our Oracle systems and understand how important it is to keep a constant watch on the performance and operation of our systems. We are always impressed by the availability of Quantix support staff who are ready to respond to any support needs we may have. It is vital to a financial services business like FBN Bank (UK) to have that constant reassurance that in any Oracle database eventuality a reliable and credible IT services company such as Quantix is there to call on."

About Quantix:

Quantix, an Oracle Certified Advantage Partner and Microsoft Gold Partner, specialise in the provision of enterprise applications support and managed services to the Mid Market. Incorporated in 2002, Quantix has seen consistently strong growth in its range of support services and can now lay claim to a managed services contract base of over £4m. Quantix has a turnover of circa £7.5m and currently works with over 400 clients across numerous vertical markets, including Finance & Banking, Transport, Public Services, Business Services, Retail, Manufacturing and Telecoms.

Contact:

Jonathan Cowling
Quantix Ltd
Tel: 0115 983 6200
Email: JonathanC@quantix-uk.com

Source: www.sourcewire.com

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