How Oracle skills can be the base for a good career

What is it?

Oracle is a relational database management system that runs on more than 80 platforms. The Oracle database is Oracle's flagship product: the current version, Oracle10g, was introduced in 2005.

A generic qualification in database technology can be a good foundation for a career, but less likely to appeal to employers than certification from one of the big suppliers. Each stage in the progression from junior to advanced certification involves training and examination fees that can total thousands of pounds.

IBM's DB2 certification is cheapest and simplest of the market leaders. Microsoft, with its regular upheavals between one major release and another, also regularly changes its certification requirements, so staying up to date involves a lot of bother and expense.

The most expensive, however, is Oracle. But Oracle qualifications are also the most marketable, with the widest choice of platforms and employers, and the best rates of pay.

Where did it originate?

Relational technology may have been invented at IBM, but Oracle was the first relational database management system to become commercially available, when a company called Relational Software released it in 1979. Chief executive Larry Ellison and two colleagues took the name from a CIA-funded project they had worked on. The company was renamed Oracle Corporation in 1983. The first version was for Vax VMS, soon extended to Unix, and then to IBM mainframes.

What's it for?

Oracle's proprietary implementation of SQL is PL/SQL (procedural language/structured query language), often used within the rapid application development environment, Oracle Forms.

Oracle insists that it remains committed to Forms and other long-standing technologies: "Oracle Forms and Oracle Reports will continue to be enhanced and will introduce new features in the future versions of the Oracle Application Server. Oracle is already committing development resources that will take Forms and Reports through to at least 2013," the company says.

But the fastest growing development environment is Java/J2EE, which Oracle is supporting with tools and environments like Oracle JDeveloper and the integrated J2EE Application Development Framework.

What makes it special?

Like IBM and Microsoft, Oracle offers an "express edition" of its database, Oracle Database XE, which can be downloaded free for Windows and Linux and used for learning and limited development.

How difficult is it to master?

Oracle has introduced a wizard-driven environment to help novice administrators and non-programmers develop simple applications.

Where is it used?

Oracle is the dominant database in commerce, finance, manufacturing, telecoms and the rest of the private sector, from Boeing and BT, to Egg and the Edinburgh Woollen Mill. It is also widespread in national and local government, police services and other public organisations and charities.

What systems does it run on?

Oracle is available on the widest range of platforms, leading the market in Linux and Unix, and competing with IBM on mainframes and Microsoft on Windows.

What's coming up?

The Oracle 11g database is due later this year.

Author: Nick Langley

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Oracle expands Linux compatibilty

The list of hardware compatible with Oracle's Linux distribution continues to grow, with the software maker certifying six new configurations this week.

The certified products to run Oracle Enterprise Linux include those made by Compellent Technologies, Dell, Egenera, EMC, Hewlett-Packard, Pillar Data Systems and Unisys.

Last year, Oracle launched its own distribution of Linux designed to be compatible with Red Hat Enterprise Linux, the leading distribution for corporate customers.

Wide hardware compatibility is important for fitting into corporate datacentres.

The company also said it is making a file system tuned for large storage configurations available under an open-source licence. An alpha release of Btrfs was made available on Wednesday.

Oracle also said it is releasing an open-source version of the Yast Linux installation and configuration tool for Oracle Enterprise Linux and Red Hat Enterprise Linux under the General Public License (GPL). Yast was originally developed for Novell's Suse Linux.

Oracle hopes to make Oracle Enterprise Linux more appealing to corporate customers and to build credibility and goodwill among the Linux community.

"By developing enhanced capabilities and contributing code, our Linux engineering team continues to make the Linux experience better for all," said Wim Coekaerts, Oracle's vice president of Linux engineering, in a statement.

Author: Martin LaMonica @ CNET News.com

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Orion Health teams with Oracle and Intel in Spain

Auckland-based Orion Health is teaming up with Intel and Oracle in a clinical mobility pilot project being conducted in Spain. The mobile patient information system is being trialled at the Hospital Universitario Son Dureta in Palma de Mallorca.

Using RFID technology, integrated into a mobile tablet device, hospital staff will be able to scan patient wristbands and access information about the patient, such as blood test and scan results, says Ian McCrae, CEO of Orion Health.

Orion’s Concerto medical record software and the device — the Motion C5 MCA (mobile clinical assistant) which uses Intel’s technology — will allow clinicians to access patient data wherever they are in the hospital, regardless of whether the patient is in a bed or being moved on a stretcher or in a wheelchair, says McCrae.

Clinicians from all over the world will come to visit the Son Dureta Hospital to see the system in action, he adds.

The RFID system is just an early phase in a bigger electronic medical record management project that will be conducted over the next five years, he says.
Orion and Oracle technologies, which bring together clinical data from multiple systems across the facility, have already been implemented at Son Dureta Hospital, says McCrae. The joint solution includes a clinical web portal, a central repository for clinical data, and an electronic whiteboard for the accident and emergency department. This system was rolled out in 2006.

Orion and Oracle are looking to sell the system to markets in other parts of Europe, North America and South Africa, says McCrae. This is the first time Orion has partnered with Intel, he says.

Orion has been in the Spanish market for about five years now, says McCrae, and the company has seven staff based in Palma. “We are looking to set up a second office in Spain — in Madrid or Barcelona,” he says. About five staff in New Zealand, in addition to the team in Palma, are involved in the project.

Author: Ulrika Hedquist

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