Oracle Offering Gadget Wizard for Google Apps

Oracle announces the release of Oracle Gadget Wizard for Google Apps and says Oracle Siebel CRM applications can now interact securely with the Google cloud platform through Google Secure Data Connector, allowing multitenancy support for accessing corporate data behind firewalls. Together, the new developments will allow even mobile enterprise users to interact securely with the cloud, Oracle says.

Oracle made several announcements on April 7 centered on products designed to interact with Google Apps, including Oracle Gadget Wizard for Google Apps with support for Google SDC.

Google marked the first birthday of the Google App Engine cloud computing solution at its Mountain View, Calif., headquarters, offering newly added Java support for the Google App Engine platform along with additional features including a database import tool and the Google Secure Data Connector, a development tool for building applications that give users access to secure corporate data even when they are working with Google Apps outside the firewall.

In addition to Oracle Gadget Wizard for Google Apps supporting Google SDC, Oracle is rolling out Siebel CRM support for Google Apps and Oracle Gadget Wizard for Google Apps.

Oracle Gadget Wizard for Google Apps allows users to construct gadgets without prior programming knowledge. These gadgets can make use of Oracle CRM.

The Siebel CRM applications utilize the Google SDC to interact with the cloud in a secure and flexible way, allowing for SAAS (software as a service) applications that can access corporate data behind the enterprise firewall, Oracle said in a news release.

Siebel CRM support of the Google Secure Data Connector "provides customers choice by helping seamlessly integrate existing [on-premises] investments with on-demand services," according to the company.

"There's an opportunity now to provide miniapplications or even applications that can be based, in part or in whole, on using Siebel CRM," Mark Woollen, vice president of Social CRM for Oracle, said in an interview. "You can take the code you built on middleware and port it directly to the Google App Engine. From there you can run it up into the cloud and use Google Apps accounts to get at the data behind the firewall."

With the new solutions in place, a brand owner could provide a gadget for deal registration, for example, sparing channel sales people from having to visit a company portal; instead, a salesperson could log on to a secure Google site to review and accept leads, interacting with the cloud without exposing the company's data in an insecure way.

Oracle has been updating or rolling out a number of new solutions as of late. On April 7, the company announced Oracle Transportation Management 6.0, a solution that provides improved oversight for transportation networks, the first update since Version 5.5 in May 2006.

And in March 2009, Oracle released Oracle Sourcing on Demand, a SAAS solution designed to make enterprise procurement of supplies a more efficient and cost-effective process by letting a company's experts collaborate online.

Author: Nicholas Kolakowski @ www.eweek.com

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Oracle launches new version of tax-specific software application

The application enables tax and revenue authorities to optimize revenue collection process. Oracle has announced the availability of Oracle Enterprise Taxation Management 2.2.0, the newest version of the tax-specific, commercial off-the-shelf software application that enables tax and revenue authorities to optimize revenue collection.

Providing a configurable alternative to custom-built systems, the application enables local tax collection authorities to optimize all aspects of the revenue collection process and respond to tax law and regulatory changes, said Oracle.

According to the company, the Oracle Enterprise Taxation Management 2.2.0 provides tax authorities with an integrated system to enable near-term functional improvements, while providing the adaptability and flexibility needed to address future challenges as well. It is built on Java Enterprise (J2EE) and service-oriented architecture industry standards.

John Andrus, vice president and general manager for Oracle tax global business unit, said: "Oracle Enterprise Taxation Management 2.2.0 demonstrates that tax authorities no longer need to rely on costly custom systems. Its standards-based platform and pre-built integrations allow for easy configuration to meet unique requirements and helps ensure the application will meet the needs of tax authorities today and in the future."

Source: http://enterpriseapplications.cbronline.com

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Oracle wins America's Cup case

A New York court has cleared the way for a possible one-on-one showdown in ultra fast 90-foot trimarans between the San Francisco-based BMW Oracle Racing team and the Swiss Alinghi syndicate, the sailing team that has won the last two America's Cups.

After nearly two years of litigation, Thursday's unanimous ruling by the New York State Court of Appeals sets up the potential for a high-stakes grudge match between software tycoon Larry Ellison and pharmaceutical magnate Ernesto Bertarelli, if they can't agree soon on rules to involve additional challengers.

It is still unclear where and when the boats will compete for the oldest trophy in international sport - one that dates to 1851. But race organizers point to next year off Valencia, Spain, or elsewhere.

"The right to act as trustee of the America's Cup should be decided on the water and not in a courtroom," the court wrote in a 6-to-0 decision. Ellison and Bertarelli should "work together to maintain this noble sailing tradition as 'a perpetual challenge cup for friendly competition between foreign countries.' "

The court ruling was a victory for Ellison's BMW Oracle team, whose lawyers argued that Bertarelli had attempted to host the 33rd America's Cup with rules rigged to the Swiss team's advantage.

The ruling could also benefit fans of extreme sailing. The gargantuan trimarans designed and built in the past year by BMW Oracle and Alinghi are extremely fast, terribly difficult to race, outright dangerous and vulnerable in heavy winds and seas.

Eighteen teams from 11 countries had reserved a spot to begin cup trials in Valencia next spring in high-tech sailboats with only one keel.

Ellison's team chose court instead. His lawyers argued that Alinghi had formed a Spanish yacht club that had never held an offshore regatta. Although the club was the first to file a challenge, Ellison's lawyers argue that it was a bogus challenge designed to ensure Alinghi's preferred rules for the next race.

Bertarelli's lawyers countered that Ellison was attempting through litigation to eliminate other cup contenders and become a finalist in a one-on-one race with Alinghi, something that Ellison's team had never achieved on the water. Bertarelli said his rules would make the regatta more affordable to other teams.

The appellate judges reinstated a lower court ruling that had declared BMW Oracle the official "challenger of record" for the next regatta.

Ellison's team launched its 90-foot trimaran last fall and has been training on it. Bertarelli's team has yet to reveal its secret, multihull design.

"We're hoping that Alinghi will come back and renegotiate for the benefit of all the challengers," said Norbert Bajurin, a San Francisco mechanic and staff commodore of the Golden Gate Yacht Club, BMW Oracle's sponsoring organization.

But, he added, if the rules cannot be agreed upon, the original "deed of gift" for the America's Cup calls for a two-boat duel between rivals to be held within 10 months.

Author: Jim Doyle at jdoyle@sfchronicle.com

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