Open letter to Ellison critical of Oracle strategy

TechWeb Global CIO writer Bob Evans recently published an open letter to Oracle CEO Larry Ellison. The heart of the note illustrates the point that Oracle's current strategy remains a burden to customers and that they are (finally) starting to get fed up.

The issue that needs your fresh thinking and attention in today's brutal economic climate is the one-size-fits-all, nonnegotiable 22 percent annual maintenance fee Oracle charges your customers.

As you well know, those customers are desperately trying to cut costs and conserve cash, and are exploring every possible option for doing so. You can help those customers very directly while also advancing Oracle's cause in a variety of ways by being willing to modify your stance on that single-tier, unmodifiable policy.

The author primarily takes issue with maintenance fees, but the underlying theme is that users have already paid for the software and that they aren't seeing much value in what is described as "maintenance." And Oracle doesn't seem to care a whole lot about it.

Mr. Ellison, it's easy to see why you like the current system, where someone pays, for example, $4,000,000 for a software license and then pays you $880,000 every year for "maintenance." And maybe CIOs will continue to find that's a fair exchange of value. But maybe they won't--as you know better than just about anyone, the IT industry is an archetype of creative destruction, where faster/better/cheaper alternatives relentlessly stalk, attack, and kill older/slower/more-expensive models.

Perhaps the model you and Charles Phillips and the entire Oracle global team have built is so extraordinarily singular that it will endure forever and remain unassailable from the forces that have ground down every previous eternal model in the technology business. But maybe not.

Definitely worth a read--this thread of "long-gone customer value" is what open source and software-as-a-service companies thrive on. The big vendor backlash is just starting.

Author: Dave Rosenberg @ news.cnet.com

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Oracle loses Melbourne to TechOne

The City of Melbourne (CoM) will ditch its Oracle business management and reporting systems in favour of local vendor TechnologyOne under a deal worth $3 million.

CoM signed the contract in December last year, it revealed today, with an initial contract value of just under $2 million and an expected $1 million in support and maintenance over the next five years. An Oracle Australia spokesperson declined to comment.

ASX-listed TechnologyOne will commence implementing the new systems in February, which will cover CoM's financial reporting, supply chain, projects, contracts, human resource and payroll, and grants management. The project is expected to be finalised in two years.

City of Melbourne CEO Kathy Alexander said in a statement issued by TechnologyOne that she hoped the new system would improve the accuracy of information the council had. "We will rely less on manual data entry, which in turn will ensure that there is less duplication and more efficient use of our employees' time," she said.

She also hoped the new system will improve the council's modelling and analysis capabilities.

Author: Liam Tung @ ZDNet.com.au

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Oracle Exec Shares Predictions on Information Management

Oracle Corp. President Charles Phillips to speak about the future of enterprise information management, followed by expert panel discussion On February 12th, a panel of enterprise technology and wireless superstars will take the stage to talk about the future of information management. Charles Phillips, President of Oracle Corp. will kick off the program with a keynote presentation: "It's always been, continues to be, and will always be about information and information management." Phillip's presentation is a part of "Exploring the Future of Enterprise Systems," a live satellite broadcast from Atlanta presented by the MIT Enterprise Forum of Atlanta (MITEF) in collaboration with the Oracle Applications User Group, Southeastern Software Association, and the Metro Atlanta Chamber of Commerce's Technology Marketing Council. With the volume of information growing exponentially, companies must find ways to manage, process and deliver that information effectively.

This discussion and panel will address ways to manage information and will advise how to differentiate burned-out buzzwords from technologies and methodologies that will form the bedrock of enterprise computing of the future. As a business key asset, information must be sorted, shared and analyzed so that it enables better business decision-making. This program will focus on technologies that do just that, and will include discussions around newly-developing computing and management paradigms such as virtualization and cloud computing. Following Charles Phillip's keynote address, moderator, Susan Hoffman of Georgia Public Broadcasting will be joined by a panel of experts including Eran Gil, VP Business Development of Cloud Sherpas and Matt Trevathan, Solutions Architect/Master Inventor, IBM Interactive.

About the Speakers Charles Phillips is President of Oracle Corporation and a member of the Board of Directors. He joined Oracle in 2003 and is responsible for global field operations including consulting, marketing, sales, alliances and channels, and customer programs. Prior to joining Oracle, Mr. Phillips was with Morgan Stanley & Co. Incorporated, a global investment bank. Mr. Phillips holds a BS in Computer Science from the United States Air Force Academy, an MBA from Hampton University, and a JD from New York Law School.
Eran Gil, VP Business Development of Cloud Sherpas, is responsible for the company’s sales efforts with the goal of expanding new business revenues and strategic partnerships. Prior to Cloud Sherpas, Mr. Gil led the international expansion for an independent VAR, doubling sales in under two years. He also served as a strategy leader for Brighthouse, one of Atlanta’s leading marketing and sales consultancies. Matt Trevathan, Solutions Architect/Master Inventor, IBM Interactive, has over ten years experience in the IT industry with a focus on telecommunications. Mr. Trevathan has experience architecting high performance clusters and virtualized environments at multiple tier-one telecommunications companies and digital media companies. He has patents or patents pending on utilizing grid services, grid fault tolerance and grid based compilers. More InformationThis event will be held on Thursday, February 12, 2009 at the Georgia Public Broadcasting Studios, located at 260 14th Street, NW in Atlanta. An MIT Forum members-only reception will be held at 5:00 PM. Networking and light dinner begin at 5:45 PM; the program and live broadcasting will begin in the studios at 7:00 PM. For additional information or to purchase tickets, visit www.mitforumatlanta.org. About MITEF
The MIT Enterprise Forum of Atlanta is a volunteer, non-profit organization whose mission is to provide educational programs and services that promote and strengthen innovation and entrepreneurship at the intersection of business and technology in the Southeast. Since the formation of the first chapter in Cambridge in 1978, The MIT Enterprise Forum has grown to a network of 24 chapters located both in the United States and abroad. Affiliation with MIT is not required to participate. Additional information is available at www.mitforumatlanta.org.

Source: http://atlanta.dbusinessnews.com

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