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JANUARY/FEBRUARY 2010
ORACLE.COM/ORACLEMAGAZINE
GETTING TO
MODERN
Enterprise architecture integrates
services and delivers business value
KNOW WHO. KNOW HOW.
Oracle CRM On Demand turns customer knowledge into business success
BUILDING A BETTER DATABASE MACHINE
The Sun Oracle Database Machine is the first for OLTP and better for all applicationsCONSTRUCT A CUBE
Create an Oracle Essbase aggregate storage databaseA LT E R N AT I V E T H I N K I N G A B O U T B U S I N E S S A N D T E C H N O LO GY:
Move Ahead.
Alternative thinking is recognizing the proper role of technology in this
era is not just to be safe and steady and reliable, but to spur the
business to compete aggressively, imaginatively and daringly.
It is working with HP and Oracle to reduce risk and lower costs while
driving your business ahead.
hp.com/go/oracle
VO L U M E X X I V, I S S U E 1
/27
HONORING EXCELLENCE
CONTENTS
From the Editor / 8 Packs, the Past, and the Future —Tom Haunert
D E PA R T M E N T S
Briefs / 15 Interview / 18
Juan Loaiza, senior vice president of systems technology at Oracle, talks about Oracle Exadata V2 and the Sun Oracle Database Machine.
AT O R A C L E
Events / 12
Find out about upcoming technology and industry events. Resources / 13
Your guide to Oracle Webcasts, podcasts, blogs, education offerings, and more
12
Cover illustration: I-Hua Chen
F E AT U R E S
From automating manual processes to enabling new
enterprise processes, technology has certainly changed
business operations. But a new approach for managing
technical resources—enterprise architecture—goes
beyond changing individual operations and instead aligns
all of IT more closely to business strategy. Read how
Oracle has helped customers create and evolve their own
enterprise architectures.
—David Baum/30
KNOW WHO.
KNOW HOW.
Customer acquisition and retention
are critical for any business.
To understand their customers,
companies turn to customer
relationship management (CRM)
software. Learn how Oracle CRM
On Demand can help organizations
find out more about their
customers.
—Marta Bright/38
GETTING TO
MODERN
Oracle OpenWorld 2009 / 11 Highlights from the conference.
CONTENTS
C O M M U N I T Y
Partner News / 20
InQuira, Arrow Enterprise Computing Solutions, Attunity, NetSuite, Zeus Technology,
Altova, Infogain, Wipro Technologies, JGI, Excel4apps, Novosoft
Book Beat / 21
OTN Bulletin / 23
Learn what’s happening with Oracle’s most dynamic online community.
Architect / 24
Oracle enterprise architecture framework builds momentum and value.
Up Close / 25
Ray Payne, OAUG president, talks about embracing changes in technology.
Peer-to-Peer / 26 Tanel Poder, Chen Shapira, Piet de Visser
20
T E C H N O L O G Y
C O M P R E S S I O N
Compressing Columns / 54
Compress more with Oracle Exadata Hybrid Columnar Compression. —Arup Nanda
A S K T O M
A Closer Look at the New Edition / 61 Our technologist redefines and defers with Oracle Database 11g Release 2. —Tom Kyte
54
D E V E L O P E R
F R A M E W O R K S The Route to Success / 42
Use task flow routers for conditional navigation. —Steve Muench
P L / S Q L P R A C T I C E S On Privacy and Function / 45
Use Oracle Virtual Private Database and Function Result Cache—securely. —Steven Feuerstein
B U S I N E S S I N T E L L I G E N C E Building a Cube / 49
Learn the basics of building an Oracle Essbase aggregate storage database. —Tracy McMullen and Edward Roske
42
C O M M E N TI N T H E F I E L DThe Importance of Patches / 66 Too many companies leave their databases insufficiently protected. —Ian Abramson
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f r o m t h e
EDITOR
ver the last few issues, Oracle Magazine has included information about several Oracle Application Integration Architecture point releases. The updates and new features in each release have been many, however, and it’s been dif-ficult to provide a description of the key product components behind those updates with each release. So I thought I’d take a moment here to offer a quick description of Oracle Application Integration Architecture and its key components.
THE NAMING OF PARTS
First, Oracle Application Integration Architecture is built on Oracle Fusion Middleware, and it provides open standards– based, packaged solutions for integrations across all your applications—Oracle, third-party, or homegrown.
Foundation packs and process integration packs are key components of Oracle Application Integration Architecture. Foundation packs contain the building blocks and templates (process models, business objects, and business services) needed to integrate any combination of custom, Oracle, and non-Oracle applications into agile business processes. Process integration packs are prebuilt, end-to-end business process integrations that connect specific Oracle and non-Oracle (SAP, for example) applications. Oracle offers both cross-industry and industry-specific prebuilt integrations. You can buy pre-built process integration packs or build your own integrations. Oracle Application Integration Architecture Foundation Pack is used to build each process integration pack.
In addition, Oracle Application Integration Architecture Foundation Pack itself includes several components, each of which is designed to help developers create their own custom integrations:
Packs, the Past, and the Future
Reference process models provide a quick-start method for modeling business processes so you can begin an integration with a clear view into your business processes, user roles, tasks, and activity levels, and how those map to underlying systems.
Enterprise business objects and services are prebuilt, reusable, standards-based building blocks. They provide the ability to create loosely coupled integrations that can be modified, extended, and configured as business demands.
SOA governance and lifecycle management tools are business process change-control tools that help you manage, maintain, and optimize your integration. Predefined reference architecture and methodology is the documented Oracle approach to imple-menting a proven SOA.
Finally, as noted in Briefs (page 16), Oracle has released Oracle Application Integration Architecture 2.5, which includes new cross-industry and industry-specific process integration packs and new enterprise objects and services.
LOOKING BACK, LOOKING AHEAD
This is the first issue of Oracle Magazine for 2010, but it’s caused me to reflect on some particular events in 2009. Looking back, I’m reminded of the Kaleidoscope conference held by Oracle Development Tools User Group (ODTUG) in Monterey, California, where I caught up with a variety of folks who had great ideas for new content in Oracle Magazine. (Thanks to Lonneke Dikmans, Steven Feuerstein, Tom Kyte, Tracy McMullen, Mike Riley, Mark Rittman, Edward Roske, Dan Vlamis, and many more.) “Building a Cube” by Tracy McMullen and Edward Roske (page 49) is the result of one conversation at the conference, and new magazine content for 2010 based on other meetings at Kaleidoscope 2009 is forthcoming.
At their keynote at Oracle OpenWorld San Francisco in October 2009, Oracle Presidents Charles Phillips and Safra Catz presented Oracle Magazine Editors’ Choice Awards to the five CIOs of the Year: Giovanni Chiarelli, João Cumerlato, Hideo Higuchi, Hyojoong Kim, and Andy Platt. Congratulations to all the winners.
Looking ahead at 2010, I’m eager for several events, includ-ing COLLABORATE 10, April 18 through 22 in Las Vegas, Nevada; and Oracle OpenWorld 2010, September 19 through 23 in San Francisco, California. And there are some changes coming to Oracle Magazine later in 2010 that I’m very much looking forward to. Stay tuned.
Tom Haunert, Editor in Chief tom.haunert@oracle.com LEARN more about
Oracle Application Integration Architecture oracle.com/aia
otn.oracle.com/products/applications/aia
Information Connects: Oracle Application Integration Architecture
oracle.com/applications/oracle-application-integration-architecture-overview-brochure.pdf
foundation packs
oracle.com/applications/oracle-foundation-pack.html
prebuilt integrations
oracle.com/applications/prebuilt-integrations.html
COLLABORATE 10 collaborate10.ioug.org
next
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Once upon a time
Oracle OpenWorld
O r a c l e
OPENWORLD 2009
an Francisco opened its arms and streets once again to thousands of Oracle OpenWorld attendees from October 11 through 15, 2009. The world’s largest gathering of Oracle customers, partners, developers, and technology enthusiasts showcased the newest and most-innovative Oracle products and services. Conference attendees were offered more than 1,900 sessions and more than 600 live demonstrations cover-ing the full breadth of Oracle products and services, includcover-ing new and upcoming releases. They also kept busy in
two exhibition halls, which featured hundreds of partner and customer exhibits, special themed pavilions and theaters, the Callaway Golf Experience, and the Motorola Enterprise Mobility Lounge. Here is a look at some of the highlights of the week.
Oracle Develop. The premier program for Oracle’s developer community, Oracle Develop featured renowned experts leading sessions about the latest development trends and tech-nologies for SOA, extreme transaction process-ing, virtualization, Web 2.0, and more. Keynote speakers included Ask Tom’s Tom Kyte on Oracle Database, Oracle Tools and Middleware Chief Architect and Senior Vice President Ted Farrell on rich enterprise applications, and Sun Microsystems’ James Gosling on software at Sun. Keynotes. This year’s keynote speakers included some of the biggest names in tech-nology: Oracle Presidents Charles Phillips and Safra Catz; HP Executive Vice President, Technology Solutions Group, Ann Livermore;
Oracle Executive Vice President, Product Development, Thomas Kurian; Sun Microsystems Chairman of the Board and Cofounder Scott McNealy; Dell Inc. Chairman of the Board and CEO Michael Dell; Infosys Technologies CEO and Managing Director S. Gopalakrishnan; and, of course, Oracle CEO Larry Ellison.
Oracle and Sun. Sun Microsystems’ Scott McNealy kicked off Oracle OpenWorld 2009 with a keynote presentation focused on Sun’s technology
In his keynote presentation, Oracle CEO Larry Ellison (above) touted the Sun Oracle Database Machine— the only database machine that runs online transaction processing applications—and Oracle Exadata V2 technology. “Oracle Exadata V2 runs virtually all database applications much faster and less expensively than any other computer in the world,” he said. California Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger (left) joined Ellison onstage and discussed technology as a key driver of California’s economy. He also praised Oracle, saying, “There are so many brilliant innovators in your company, walking onstage I think my IQ shot up 10 points.”
Conference attendees came
Celebrates Innovation
Thousands of Oracle OpenWorld attendees converged upon Moscone South, home of one of two exhibition halls and many conference sessions.
ThinkQuest, an international technology competition for students sponsored by the Oracle Education Foundation, brought 114 award-winning students and teachers from 11 countries to Oracle OpenWorld. Planet Keepers, a Puerto Rico– based team that placed first in the 19-and-under age division, is pictured above with Matt Mayerson (left), Oracle vice president of manufacturing and distribution and member of the Oracle Education Foundation Board of Directors.
Oracle OpenWorld oracle.com/openworld
Oracle OpenWorld Live oracle.com/openworldlive
Oracle OpenWorld On Demand
oracle.com/us/openworld/registration.htm#ondemand
ThinkQuest www.thinkquest.org
web
LOCATOR
with questions, left with answers.
innovation. “Innovation is at the core of Sun,” he said, touting a variety of Sun technologies including Solaris, Sun Ray thin client, and chip multithreading. Oracle’s Larry Ellison joined McNealy onstage, noting, “It’s dazzling think-ing of all the innovations that have come from Sun.” Ellison also discussed a new record-breaking benchmark with Oracle Database 11g running on Sun SPARC servers (see Briefs, page 16, for details.)
Networking. Oracle OpenWorld 2009 offered numerous opportunities for attendees to network with their peers— including the Welcome Reception, Oracle Technology Network’s OTN Night, and the Oracle OpenWorld
Appreciation Event, where legendary rockers Roger Daltrey and Aerosmith got the crowd moving. Social networking was bigger than ever this year, thanks in part to Oracle OpenWorld Live, which provided a live Web feed from the OTN Lounge. This live programming included an audience Q&A with Oracle Vice President of Product Strategy Ken Jacobs, OTN TechCast Live sessions featuring OTN Editor in Chief Justin Kestelyn in conversation with numerous technol-ogy experts, and a daily buzz roundup. In-person and virtual attend-ees provided a stream of content and commentary through Oracle OpenWorld’s Facebook page, Twitter feed, Oracle Mix page, blog, and the Oracle Unconference. Finally, after a week of keynotes, sessions, and exhibits, Oracle OpenWorld attendees closed out the week in style at the last official conference event, “It’s a Wrap!”
Oracle Presidents Charles Phillips and Safra Catz presented Oracle’s vision of the future— a future that is connected, open, and ready to deploy. Oracle spends billions on innovation and integration every year, Phillips said. He also discussed the latest developments in the Oracle stack: in applications, industry solutions, middleware, the database, and infrastructure.
HARTMANN STUDIOS
HARTMANN STUDIOS
NORA STRA
a t O r a c l e
EVENTS
Greater Cincinnati Oracle User Group Meeting with Tom Kyte
January 13, Blue Ash, Ohio www.gcoug.org
Northeast Ohio Oracle Users Group Meeting
January 15, Independence, Ohio www.neooug.org
Nashville Oracle Users Group Meeting January 20 and February 17, Nashville, Tennessee
www.noug.net
Dallas Oracle Users Group Meeting January 21 and February 18, Irving, Texas
www.doug.org
UKOUG UNIX SIG Meeting January 21, London, England www.ukoug.org
Suncoast Oracle Users Group Meeting January 28 and February 25, Tampa, Florida
soug.acomp.usf.edu
UKOUG Public Sector Human Capital Management Customer Forum January 28, Birmingham, England www.ukoug.org
UKOUG Financials/Government Day February 9, London, England www.ukoug.org
UKOUG Oracle Projects SIG Meeting February 11, London, England www.ukoug.org
Rocky Mountain Oracle Users Group Training Days
February 16–18, Denver, Colorado www.rmoug.org
UKOUG Human Capital Management SIG Meeting
February 23, Slough, England www.ukoug.org
Southeastern Oracle Users Conference February 24–25, Charlotte,
North Carolina www.seouc.com
O R A C L E U S E R G R O U P S
Alliance 2010
February 28–March 3,
San Antonio, Texas
With more than 3,500 participants expected, this conference is the world’s largest meeting of higher education, public sector, and federal users of Oracle Applications. The event offers more than 400 user-driven sessions, an executive forum, a series of keynotes, and a
preconference golf tournament and fun run. Get details and sign up at www.heug.org.
International Conference
on Computer Education,
Management Technology, and
Application 2010
January 27–28, Kathmandu, Nepal
This conference connects researchers, scien-tists, engineers, and students in the areas of computer education, management technology, and applications to exchange research results and explore new theories in an international forum. To learn more, go to www.coemta.org.
Smart Energy Canada
January 31–February 2, Toronto, Canada
This event brings together key stakeholders in utilities to solidify the bridge from smart metering to the smart grid in Canada. The agenda includes discussions of new technolo-gies and best practices. Sign up at www .spintelligent-events.com/sec2010/en.
Sustainability Virtual Summits
February 9–11, online
This virtual event focuses on information and communications technologies that can contrib-ute to mitigating the effects of climate change. The event showcases profitable practices and strategies that alleviate negative environmental impacts, enhance corporate social aware-ness, and benefit corporate growth. Sign up at www.sustainabilityvirtualsummits.com.
Forrester’s Enterprise
Architecture Forum 2010
February 11–12, San Diego, California
Find out why enterprise architecture is the basis for the business/IT partnership. This forum addresses how to align busi-ness and IT strategies, enable transforma-tion of IT into a business-centric service provider, and boost IT’s strategic value. Get details at www.forrester.com/events/ eventdetail?eventID=2432.
Mobile World Congress
February 15–18, Barcelona, Spain
This gathering of 47,000 mobile professionals features a thought leadership conference, key-notes and panel discussions, more than 1,300 exhibitors, industry seminars, and network-ing opportunities. Learn more and register at www.mobileworldcongress.com.
EnergyBiz Leadership Forum
February 28–March 2, Washington DC
Join major influencers—industry executives, policy makers, regulators, consumers, and members of the financial and legal communi-ties—to tackle the formative issues affecting energy. Highlights include the financial implica-tions of overhauling energy and a discussion of technology’s role in energy advancements. Learn more at www.energybizforum.com.
Technology Events
Conferences and sessions to help you stay on the cutting edge
a t O r a c l e
RESOURCES
WEBCASTS AND INTERNET
SEMINARS
Oracle Tuxedo: Modern. Mission-Critical. SOA-Ready.
www.bit.ly/xCjF0
Hasan Rizvi, senior vice president, Oracle Fusion Middleware, discusses Oracle Tuxedo, Oracle’s market-leading application server for C, C++, and Cobol applications. Five IT Cost Management Imperatives
www.bit.ly/2YhnZv
Honorio J. Padron, IT research practice lead at the Hackett Group, reviews the practices that organizations should follow to lower their IT costs.
WHITE PAPERS AND REPORTS
The Role of Application Management Outsourcing in Improving IT Agility, Part Iwww.bit.ly/syW4d
Read about emerging models for applica-tion management outsourcing that address the need to rapidly ramp up capacity with minimal capital investment during an expan-sion phase and scale back capacity swiftly during a downturn.
OAUG ResearchLine Report: Performance Under Pressure
oracle.com/goto/em_survey
Whether you are a customer attempting to access an e-commerce site or a manager at the other end charged with keeping the site’s applications performing flawlessly on a 24/7 basis, you know that there are always going to be glitches lurking. Learn how Oracle Enterprise Manager can mitigate these issues through effective monitoring, testing, and quality assurance.
Deciding Whether or Not to Use a Portal Platform
oracle.com/goto/forresterportalreport
Portals provide secure access to applica-tions, content, and communication tools. Learn more about the driving factors behind portal implementation and how to decide if a portal product is right for your organization.
The Oracle Enterprise Architecture Framework
oracle.com/goto/oeaf
Read about how Oracle enterprise archi-tecture framework provides a streamlined technology-agnostic framework that helps Oracle work collaboratively with custom-ers to develop strategic road maps and architecture solutions that enable business and IT alignment.
Architectural Strategies for Cloud Computing
oracle.com/goto/eacloud
Cloud computing is the convergence of virtualization, distributed application design, grid computing, and enterprise IT manage-ment to enable a more flexible approach for deploying and scaling applications. Learn more about delivering an architecture that captures the potential of cloud computing. Maximizing SOA Returns with Enterprise Architecture
oracle.com/goto/easoa
The value of SOA has been limited due to its implementation as more of a solution archi-tecture than an enterprise archiarchi-tecture. See how a shared-services infrastructure built with the foundation of enterprise architec-ture can provide sustainable cost reduction and improve alignment of the business to IT.
RESOURCE KITS AND CENTERS
Executive Guide to Grid Computing oracle.com/goto/gridexecguide
Grid computing enables data centers to get ready for the next decade of business chal-lenges while providing immediate benefits in terms of lowering costs, raising service levels, and increasing agility. This grid com-puting resource kit offers a primer on grid computing techniques and showcases real customer use cases.
Enterprise Architecture Center otn.oracle.com/architect/entarch
Enterprise architecture is a method and an organizing principle that aligns functional business objectives and strategies with an IT strategy and execution plan. This resource
center offers podcasts, blogs, white papers, and other content that reflect the insight and expertise of Oracle Technology Network members who are dealing with enterprise architecture challenges.
Oracle CFO Central oraclecfo.com
Focused on the needs of the chief finan-cial officer, Oracle CFO Central provides in-depth thought leadership on financial management topics and solutions, and the latest news, resources, and information about upcoming executive events.
PODCASTS
Extreme Performance for Data Warehouses
oracle.com/database/podcasts.html
Ray Roccaforte, Oracle’s vice president
What’s New at Oracle
The latest Webcasts, podcasts, white papers, and blogs
Oracle
Direct
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RESOURCES
responsible for developing data warehous-ing solutions, discusses how Oracle Exadata V2 and Oracle Database 11g Release 2 enable customers to easily deploy and scale an Oracle data warehouse and deliver the best cost/performance ratio.
Enterprise Architecture Visibility, Parts 1 and 2 otn.oracle.com/syndication/
arch2arch-podcasts
Oracle ACE Directors Lonneke Dikmans and Mark Simpson discuss bridging silos and the difficulty in dealing with the “people issues” inherent in enterprise architecture.
Cloud Computing and the Politics of Enterprise Architecture, Parts 1–3
otn.oracle.com/syndication/ arch2arch-podcasts
Basheer Khan of Innowave Technology, Jordan Braunstein of Rolta TUSC, and Ralf Dossmann of Oracle’s Enterprise Solutions Group discuss how cloud computing might reshape the battleground between business and IT.
Author Iggy Fernandez Discusses Sound Practices and Techniques DBAs Can Use with Oracle Database 11g
oracle.com/podcasts/author- podcasts.html
Iggy Fernandez, author of Beginning Oracle Database 11g Administration: From Novice to Professional (Apress, 2009) discusses the value-add that Oracle Database 11g offers to all database administrators.
PeopleSoft Developer’s Guide for PeopleTools and PeopleCode
oracle.com/podcasts/author- podcasts.html
Judi Doolittle, author of PeopleSoft Developer’s Guide for PeopleTools and PeopleCode (Oracle Press, 2008) discusses practical problems and techniques used by DBAs for normalization and denormalization
of Oracle’s PeopleSoft Enterprise and other data models.
Best Practices for Upgrading to Oracle Database 11g
oracle.com/database/podcasts.html
Roger Snowden of Oracle’s Customer Support Database Center of Excellence discusses best practices and resources available to help reduce the time, cost, and risks associated with upgrading to Oracle Database 11g.
Tom Kyte’s Thoughts on Oracle Database 11g Release 2
oracle.com/database/podcasts.html
Oracle’s Tom Kyte shares his opinions about Oracle Database 11g Release 2.
Oracle Exadata V2: The World’s First OLTP Database Machine
oracle.com/database/podcasts.html
Juan Loaiza, senior vice president of systems technology at Oracle, talks about Oracle Exadata V2 and how customers can experience extreme performance for both data warehousing and online transaction processing (OLTP) workloads.
BLOGS
Enterprise Architecture Blog
blogs.oracle.com/enterprisearchitecture
This blog focuses on best practices for enterprise architects. Contributors include Mans Bhuller and Hamza Jahangir of Oracle’s Enterprise Solutions Group; Adam Boczkowski, Oracle Insight program direc-tor; and Pat Shepherd of Oracle Sales. Oracle E-Business Suite Technology
blogs.oracle.com/stevenchan
This blog provides the latest news from the Oracle E-Business Suite development team. It includes Oracle insiders’ takes on technology stack–related topics for Oracle E-Business Suite, sneak previews of
upcoming releases, new product announce-ments, glimpses into the inner workings of Oracle Development, and in-depth discus-sions of technology stack architectures.
ORACLE UNIVERSITY
Training for Oracle’s PeopleSoft PeopleTools
oracle.com/education
PeopleSoft PeopleTools 8.50 provides a full-feature technology upgrade to help enhance the value of PeopleSoft applications. Oracle University provides a series of courses to help you understand the changes and new features available with PeopleSoft PeopleTools 8.50. Courses include PeopleTools I Release 8.50, PeopleTools II Release 8.50, PeopleSoft PeopleCode Release 8.50, PeopleSoft Application Engine Release 8.50, and PeopleSoft Structured Query Report Release 8.50.
SALES
Free Web Application Assessment
oracle.com/goto/webassessment
The Oracle Fusion Middleware Web Application Assessment is a collaborative discovery process focused on specific Web application efficiency, performance, and availability issues. Following industry standards and best practices, Oracle’s tech-nical experts will engage with your team to review your applications and supporting infrastructure. The engagement consists of one half-day information gathering and advisory workshop.
Oracle Blog Center oracle.com/blogs
Oracle Consulting oracle.com/consulting
Oracle Events and Webcasts oracle.com/events
“If you execute the architecture process well, other people
won’t notice your success. If you fail, they feel it’s useless
and slow. How can you make architectural success more
visible in your organization?”
— Lonneke Dikmans, Oracle ACE Director, in part one of the Enterprise Architecture Visibility podcast (otn.oracle.com/syndication/arch2arch-podcasts)
a t O r a c l e
BRIEFS
TALES OF ENCRYPTION
In a survey of more than 600 IT security professionals, 41 percent said they encrypt backup tapes, 43 percent encrypt databases, and 49 percent encrypt full disks. The single most important factor preventing encryption was cost, with 26 percent citing the cost of acquiring encryption and 26 percent citing the cost of managing encryption.
Source: Trust Catalyst www.trustcatalyst.com
MORE COMPANIES THINK GREEN
60 percent of organizations in the U.S. have a partial or comprehensive green IT strategy, and 72 percent conduct audits of energy consumption and power management, according to a CompTIA survey. Worldwide, about 25 percent of companies have a green IT program in place, and another 9 percent plan to have one within a year, according to a Deloitte survey.
Sources: CompTIA and Deloitte www.comptia.org
www.deloitte.com
ACCIDENTS WORSE THAN HACKERS FOR DATA LOSS
85 percent of companies surveyed say data loss through external hacking is “very unlikely,” and 45 percent believe that accidental employee error is the most likely channel for data loss. Almost 60 percent plan an IT security audit. The survey included more than 400 IT security decision-makers in 18 countries worldwide.
Source: Dimension Data and IDC www.dimensiondata.com
SOCIAL NETWORKING RESTRICTED
A survey of 1,400 CIOs in the U.S. found that 54 percent of companies completely prohibit employee use of social networking sites such as Facebook and Twitter at work. 19 percent permit social networking for business purposes, 16 percent permit it for limited personal use, and 10 percent have no restrictions.
Source: Robert Half Technology www.roberthalftechnology.com
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KNOW
D I D Y O U
ORACLE APPLICATION DEVELOPMENT FRAMEWORK MOBILE CLIENT PREVIEW AVAILABLE
Oracle has released a developer preview of Oracle Application Development Framework (Oracle ADF) Mobile Client, which enables developers to extend their enterprise applications onto mobile devices. It provides built-in security and database synchronization services to manage data distribution and reconcilia-tion with mobile applicareconcilia-tions.
Oracle ADF Mobile Client also sup-ports disconnected access to enterprise applications from mobile devices; offers
mobile application rendering in the native look and feel of each device; and integrates with on-device services such as calendar, contacts, and peripherals.
“With Oracle ADF Mobile Client, developers can write their applications once and deploy them on multiple mobile platforms, saving time and allow-ing developers to focus on buildallow-ing better applications,” says Ted Farrell, tools and middleware chief architect and senior vice president at Oracle.
UPDATED LINE OF ORACLE BERKELEY DB EMBEDDABLE DATABASES RELEASED
Three new releases in the Oracle Berkeley DB family of open source, embeddable databases are available: Oracle Berkeley DB 4.8, Oracle Berkeley DB XML 2.5, and Oracle Berkeley DB Java Edition 4.0. Oracle Berkeley DB products can be integrated directly into software applications, devices, and equipment to deliver high performance, reliability, and availability with virtually no human administration.
Oracle Berkeley DB 4.8 delivers improved scalability, performance, and ease of use. New features include support for foreign keys, improved failure handling for multithreaded appli-cations, and a new db_sql utility that generates Berkeley DB application code from a SQL schema description.
Oracle Berkeley DB XML 2.5 delivers several performance and data manage-ment improvemanage-ments, including support for external functions, a smaller on-disk footprint for XML containers, and certi-fication on Oracle Berkeley DB 4.8.
Oracle Berkeley DB Java Edition 4.0 includes new replication features for high availability and scalability, signifi-cant performance improvements, and a plug-in for JConsole, which eases appli-cation deployment and monitoring.
“These new releases contain signifi-cant new enhancements to the products in terms of performance, high avail- ability, and ease of use and reinforce Oracle’s commitment to open source products,” says Rex Wang, vice president of product marketing at Oracle.
ORACLE VM 2.2 ACCELERATES APPLICATION DEPLOYMENT
The latest release of Oracle’s server vir-tualization software, Oracle VM 2.2, enables customers to accelerate deploy-ment of and simplify managedeploy-ment of enterprise applications. Now available, the new release enables organizations to run their data centers in the most environmentally sustainable and efficient manner, while lowering costs.
Oracle VM 2.2 features the latest Xen-based, industry-standard hyper-visor, Xen 3.4, and provides substantial performance enhancements for custom-ers running Intel Xeon processor 5500 series and Six-Core AMD Opteron
pro-cessors. Other enhancements include new CPU power management, memory management, and direct disk I/O capa-bilities. Additionally, this release delivers on the initial integration of Oracle VM and Virtual Iron technology.
BRIEFS
ORACLE AND SUN ACHIEVE WORLD-RECORD BENCHMARK
Oracle has announced a new world-record Transaction Processing Performance Council (TPC-C) bench-mark result for Oracle Database 11g running on Sun SPARC servers with chip multithreading technology and the Sun Solaris Operating System.(1)
Oracle Database 11g running on the Solaris 10 Operating System achieved a record-breaking 7.7 million tpmC at $2.34/tpmC. This result proves that the Oracle-Sun combination runs faster than IBM DB2 running on IBM’s flagship Power 595.(2)
The Oracle-Sun benchmark used a combination of Sun’s chip multithreading servers to power the database, along with Sun’s Flash Storage technology to speed I/O. With the Sun Storage F5100 Flash Array, Oracle and Sun were able to set the world record using eight times less
hardware than IBM used for its largest benchmark.(3) Oracle Real Application
Clusters allowed Sun and Oracle to scale performance on a 12-node Sun SPARC Enterprise T5440 cluster.
The Oracle-Sun configuration also consumed four times less energy than the IBM configuration even though it ran 26 percent faster.
“With this benchmark result, there’s no denying that Oracle Database 11g running on Sun SPARC Enterprise T5440 servers outperforms IBM and DB2,” says Juan Loaiza, senior vice pres-ident of systems technology at Oracle.
As of October 11, 2009. Source: TPC-C, www.tpc.org. (1) 12-node Sun SPARC Enterprise T5440 server cluster: 7,717,510 tpmC at $2.34/tpmC. Available December 14, 2009. (2) IBM Power 595 server, model 9119-FHA: 6,085,166 tpmC at $2.81/tpmC (best IBM DB2 TPC-C result). Available December 10, 2008.
(3) Hardware size measured in racks of equipment as priced for the benchmarks.
ORACLE AGREES TO ACQUIRE HYPERROLL ASSETS
Oracle has agreed to acquire certain assets of HyperRoll, a leading provider of financial reporting acceleration solu-tions. HyperRoll’s products help improve reporting performance, shrink the close cycle, and improve visibility of financial data to line management. Customers across multiple industries including retail, consumer goods, and financial ser-vices currently use HyperRoll’s products.
“Enterprise performance management
is a critical requirement for organiza-tions,” says Robert Gersten, senior vice president of Oracle product develop-ment. “Oracle enterprise performance management already enables rapid, accurate, and secure financial consolida-tion and reporting. With the addiconsolida-tion of HyperRoll’s reporting acceleration technology, customers are expected to be able to execute a faster and more com-pliant financial close.”
ORACLE SECURE BACKUP 10.3 SUPPORTS VIRTUAL TAPE LIBRARIES
Oracle is now shipping the latest release of its centralized tape backup management system, Oracle Secure Backup 10.3. The new release provides enhanced virtual tape library support through serverless tape duplication, which helps increase performance and reduce server overhead when backup data is copied from virtual to physi-cal tapes. Oracle Secure Backup 10.3 also allows backup encryption to be performed on the host or by leveraging LTO-4 tape drives to offload encryp-tion processes from the host. Other new features include tape vaulting enhance-ments that better automate management of tapes between multiple locations; support for IP version 6; and platform support for HP-UX Itanium, AIX, Linux, Windows, and Solaris SPARC.
ORACLE APPLICATION TESTING SUITE INCLUDES TEST-SCRIPTING PLATFORM
Oracle has unveiled the latest version of its application testing solution for Oracle Applications, Web, and SOA applications: Oracle Application Testing Suite 9.0.
The suite introduces OpenScript, a Java-based, integrated test-scripting platform for automated functional testing and load testing. Users can now create test scripts that automate both Web- and Oracle Forms–based applica-tion interfaces. Leveraging OpenScript’s intuitive graphical scripting interface, users can record automated test scripts by stepping through their Oracle E-Business Suite business transactions in the browser.
To help ensure the health and per-formance of packaged, Web, and SOA applications, Oracle Application Testing Suite 9.0 delivers Oracle E-Business Suite accelerators that support auto-mated functional testing and load testing of Oracle E-Business Suite applications.
“Comprehensive application testing is among the most important parts of today’s IT toolbox for delivering cost efficiencies to the business,” says Melinda-Carol Ballou, program direc-tor, application lifecycle management, at market intelligence firm IDC.
ORACLE APPLICATION INTEGRATION ARCHITECTURE 2.5 SUPPORTS INDUSTRY SOLUTIONS
Oracle has released Oracle Application Integration Architecture 2.5, which includes 10 new cross-industry process integration packs, 6 new industry-specific process integration packs, and a library of more than 1,000 enterprise services and 100 enterprise objects. Oracle Application Integration Architecture 2.5 provides an open, standards-based approach for organiza-tions to integrate end-to-end business processes across a broad range of custom, Oracle, and third-party applications.
With an increased focus on end-to-end industry solutions and prebuilt integra-tions across Oracle and non-Oracle appli-cations, Oracle Application Integration Architecture Release 2.5 helps
organiza-tions reduce business process integration complexity and accelerate delivery of enterprise application solutions. With 30 process integration packs and 4 founda-tion packs, this release supports critical business processes across multiple indus-tries, including manufacturing, utilities, retail, and health sciences, and provides customers with integration solutions that can be extended and managed over time.
ORACLE DATABASE VAULT CERTIFIED WITH SAP APPLICATIONS
In order to provide customers with increased security for mission-critical SAP application data, Oracle has certi-fied Oracle Database Vault for use with SAP applications. Oracle Database Vault enables organizations to efficiently increase security and address regulatory compliance by controlling who, when, where, and how existing SAP applica-tion data can be accessed by any users, including privileged database users such as DBAs.
Using Oracle Database Vault, organi-zations can further ensure that database users cannot bypass SAP application secu-rity features and access SAP application
data directly using ad hoc database query tools. Oracle Database Vault establishes protective realms around SAP application database objects to prevent privileged database user access to sensitive data.
“Oracle Database Vault proactively and transparently safeguards application data, preventing unauthorized access and providing customers with the nec-essary database security technology to help achieve regulatory compliance. This certification extends that protection to SAP environments, allowing companies to protect their critical business informa-tion,” says Vipin Samar, vice president of database security at Oracle.
Oracle Application Development Framework Mobile Client Oracle Application Testing Suite otn.oracle.com/products/oem/prod_focus/etest.html
Oracle and Sun Benchmark www.tpc.org
Oracle Application Integration Architecture Oracle’s PeopleSoft Enterprise 9.1 oracle.com/peoplesoft
Oracle Media Intellectual Property Management
oracle.com/industries/media-entertainment/oracle-media-intellectual-property-management.html
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ORACLE’S PEOPLESOFT ENTERPRISE 9.1 UNVEILED
Oracle has released Oracle’s PeopleSoft Enterprise 9.1, which includes release 9.1 of PeopleSoft human capital management solutions, PeopleSoft PeopleTools 8.50, PeopleSoft Enterprise Portal 9.1, and PeopleSoft Enterprise Learning Management 9.1.
Release 9.1 of PeopleSoft human capital management solutions includes a core platform that addresses end-to-end human resources responsibilities for global organizations. In addition to best-in-class integrated talent manage-ment, workforce managemanage-ment, and work-force service delivery, the latest version includes embedded Web 2.0 capabilities and new industry-specific enhancements.
PeopleSoft PeopleTools 8.50 offers a flexible development environment for customers to manage, customize, integrate, and support their PeopleSoft applications. This latest update fea-tures an enriched end-user
experi-ence through the use of new Web 2.0 capabilities, enhanced integration, and expanded reporting options.
PeopleSoft Enterprise Portal 9.1 helps organizations promote engagement and collaboration through the deployment of online communities and Web-based self-service sites for their enterprises.
PeopleSoft Enterprise Learning Management 9.1 enables organizations to proactively manage their learning environments, ensuring that employees acquire knowledge and skills consistent with corporate objectives and regula-tory compliance.
“Oracle’s PeopleSoft Enterprise 9.1 includes many new features that cus-tomers have told us they need today,” says Paco Aubrejuan, vice president and general manager for Oracle’s PeopleSoft Enterprise product line. “This approach ensures our products continue to drive real business value today.”
ORACLE MEDIA INTELLECTUAL PROPERTY MANAGEMENT RELEASED
Oracle is shipping Oracle Media Intellectual Property Management, a com-prehensive software solution acquired from Sophoi that manages intellectual property and the content value chain for media and entertainment compa-nies. It automates intellectual property rights and royalty management and sales and distribution across content owners, aggregators, and service providers to reduce revenue leakage and develop new revenue models.
“With the proliferation of media and entertainment distribution channels, the management and licensing of intellectual property rights and royalties has become increasingly complex,” says Liam Maxwell, vice president of products, Oracle Communications. “The addi-tion of Sophoi technology to Oracle’s product line for the communications, media, and entertainment industries is expected to accelerate the adoption of standards-based software to monetize digital content and enable better finan-cial control of content assets.” O
ORACLE ACQUIRES DATA INTEGRATION PROVIDER GOLDENGATE
Oracle has acquired GoldenGate Software, a leading provider of real-time data integration solutions. GoldenGate’s best-in-class solutions enable real-time data integration and continuous data availability by capturing and delivering updates of critical information as the changes occur and providing continuous data synchronization across heteroge-neous environments.
“The need to improve operating
a t O r a c l e
INTERVIEW
BY TO M H AU N E RT
uan Loaiza, senior vice president of systems technology at Oracle, sat down with Tom Haunert, Oracle Magazine editor in chief, to talk about Oracle Exadata V2 and the Sun Oracle Database Machine. The following is an excerpt from that interview. Download a podcast of the full interview at oracle.com/magcasts.
Oracle Magazine: What are the key tech-nology innovations in Oracle Exadata V2 and the Sun Oracle Database Machine? Loaiza: There are three key innova-tions in Oracle Exadata V2. The first is the intelligent Oracle Exadata storage (which we introduced in Oracle Exadata V1) that is deployed in a grid scale-out architecture using InfiniBand network-ing. So it’s very high performance with very high-speed networking.
Second, we’ve introduced a technology called Hybrid Columnar Compression, which provides much better compres-sion than we or anyone else has achieved before. We think it’s going to have dra-matic benefits for very large databases.
Third, we’ve incorporated Flash tech-nology into the Sun Oracle Database Machine, and we’ve done it in an inno-vative way that’s high performance, easy to use, low cost, and highly available. Oracle Magazine: What’s new in intelli-gent storage in Oracle Exadata V2? Loaiza: Intelligent storage was the big innovation in Oracle Exadata V1, and we’ve enhanced it in Oracle Exadata V2. We’ve done three things to avoid storage bottlenecks. First, we do query processing inside storage. Second, we went away from the monolithic storage architecture to a scale-out storage architecture. Our storage is made from modular building blocks that are basi-cally servers with disks in them. Third, we use an InfiniBand network that runs at 40Gb/second. That’s key to getting lots of data from storage into the
data-base servers very quickly, especially as we bring Flash into the picture. Oracle Magazine: How does Oracle’s Hybrid Columnar Compression work? Loaiza: With Hybrid Columnar
Compression, we transparently reorganize the data into a column-oriented format to achieve much better compression. With our previous generations of compres-sion, we usually achieved 2 to 4 times compression on user data. With Hybrid Columnar Compression, we typically achieve 10 times or more compression.
We are starting to get the early results back from customers with very large databases, and they are amazing. For example, a telecom customer that tried Hybrid Columnar Compression using call data records, which tradition-ally don’t compress very well, is achiev-ing over 6 times compression. This is much higher compression than we’ve ever seen before with call data records.
We have two modes for Hybrid Columnar Compression. We have a
very fast mode called compress for query, and we have a mode that optimizes space called compress for archive. A very large financial company has achieved 19 times compression with compress for query mode, which is a tremendous compression rate. And a scientific cus-tomer saw 70 times compression with compress for archive mode.
Oracle Magazine: What’s new and inno-vative about the Flash technology in Oracle Exadata V2?
Loaiza: In Oracle Exadata V2, we’ve incorporated a new technology from Sun called FlashFire technology in every storage server.
Up to now, Flash had been intro-duced as kind of a disk replacement. It included a disk-drive interface and sat behind a disk controller, but inside it was actually a bunch of Flash chips. That was the first generation of Flash technology, and it worked pretty well. But having Flash look like a disk drive and sit behind a disk controller actually limits the performance quite a bit.
With FlashFire, Sun has introduced a technology where the Flash memory actually sits on a PCI card that goes directly into the motherboard of the servers. That’s what we’re using in our Oracle Exadata storage, and it’s much, much faster than using Flash as a disk drive. Imagine putting DRAM into a disk form factor and sitting it behind the disk controller. You’re going to lose a lot of the performance of that DRAM. Flash is a lot more like DRAM than like a disk drive. Flash is a semiconduc-tor technology, and it’s much better to introduce it closer to the processors.
We’re primarily using the Flash in our Oracle Exadata Storage Servers as a cache in front of the disk drives. We have 5TB of Flash in a one-rack Sun Oracle Database Machine, and Juan Loaiza, Senor Vice President of Systems
Technology at Oracle
Building a Better Database Machine
The Sun Oracle Database Machine is the first for OLTP and better for all applications.
we automatically manage which data goes on disk and which data goes on Flash. And as data becomes active, we’ll move it automatically into Flash so that subsequent accesses will get the perfor-mance of Flash.
Oracle Magazine: How can OLTP [online transaction processing] customers benefit from Oracle Exadata V2? Loaiza: In Oracle Exadata V2, we’ve
introduced support for OLTP, so OLTP customers get great benefits from the intelligent storage grid. We’re able to offload query operations for OLTP just like we do for data warehousing.
One of the unique features of Oracle technology is that we’re able to run very complex and sophisticated OLTP applications in a scale-out grid infra-structure using Oracle RAC [Oracle Real Application Clusters]. This includes applications such as Siebel, PeopleSoft, and Oracle E-Business Suite. The other key OLTP feature is the use of Flash in
Oracle Exadata V2 to greatly speed up OLTP. With the Flash that we have in a one-rack Sun Oracle Database Machine, we can run at more than a million I/Os per second, which is a rate that has never been seen before. Before Oracle Exadata V2, it would take around 100 racks of storage to achieve that kind of performance, and it would cost millions and millions of dollars.
Oracle Magazine: How do storage and performance compare between Oracle Exadata V1 and Oracle Exadata V2? Loaiza: In Oracle Exadata V1 we had
the intelligent, scale-out storage grid, and we were able to run queries at a rate of 14GB/second off disk. That’s 5 to 10 times faster than other storage devices that were much bigger than ours. In Oracle Exadata V2 the disk performance is 50 percent faster than in Oracle Exadata V1. But more impor-tantly, the compression technologies are a key part of the data-warehousing story
in Oracle Exadata V2. If we achieve 10 times compression with our Hybrid Columnar Compression technology, the customers’ very large data warehouses— whether they’re 1TB, 10TB, 50TB, or 100TB, can be shrunk in size. This greatly improves performance. Also, it’s very cumbersome to do backup or restore or reorganization of the data on these extremely large systems. If you can shrink the size by a factor of 10, it makes it an order of magnitude easier to manage and also gives much lower cost and much higher performance. ■
LISTEN to the podcast
oracle.com/magcasts
READ more about Oracle Exadata V2
oracle.com/database/exadata.html
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oracle.com/database/database-machine.html
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Oracle JDeveloper 11g Handbook By Duncan Mills, Peter Koletzke, and Avrom Roy-Faderman Oracle Press
www.mhprofessional.com
This book shows you how to build Java Platform, Enterprise Edition (Java EE) Web applications using Oracle JDeveloper 11g, Oracle Application Development Framework (Oracle ADF), and JavaServer Faces. The authors, a group of Oracle JDeveloper experts, discuss the latest technologies and explain how to develop code using multiple techniques. They provide hands-on practice examples to walk you through the creation of a complete sample application that employs highly interactive user interface components and declarative development methods.
Oracle PL/SQL Programming
By Steven Feuerstein and Bill Pribyl
O’Reilly Media www.oreilly.com
In the fifth edition of this definitive reference, authors Steven Feuerstein and Bill Pribyl cover language fundamentals, advanced coding techniques, and best practices for using Oracle’s procedural language. Thoroughly updated for Oracle Database 11g Release 2, this edition reveals new PL/SQL features and provides extensive code samples that range from simple examples to complex and complete real applications. The book is ideal for novices and experienced Oracle programmers alike.
Oracle Essbase & Oracle OLAP By Michael Schrader, Dan Vlamis, Mike Nader, Chris Claterbos, Dave Collins, Mitch Campbell, and Floyd Conrad Oracle Press
www.mhprofessional.com
In the first-ever book to cover both Oracle Essbase and Oracle OLAP (online analytical processing), a group of product experts explains the unique features and benefits of these products. This book details how to architect an OLAP solution that meets varying requirements. It provides proven techniques for building robust applications and tuning and maintaining an OLAP environment and presents real-world case studies.
Look for Oracle books at otn.oracle .com/bookstore.
INQUIRA NOW INTEGRATES WITH SIEBEL CONTACT CENTER AND ORACLE CRM ON DEMAND
Oracle partner InQuira has announced iConnect for Siebel Contact Center, an enterprise knowledge management solution that integrates with Oracle’s Siebel Contact Center desktop. Key features of iConnect for Siebel Contact Center include guided assistance, linked answers, smart excerpts, and managed answers. Siebel Service Request data, such as product information and request summaries, provides context for agent searches, while InQuira’s natural lan-guage processing capabilities understand
customer inquiries. iConnect for Siebel Contact Center also provides historical context for customer requests and sum-maries of relevant content.
In other news, InQuira’s on-demand Web self-service applications are now integrated with Oracle CRM On Demand. The integrated solution enables customers to go seamlessly from self-service to agent-assisted service, while providing service agents with a view of customer issues and actions taken.
ARROW ECS TARGETS RESELLERS WITH ORACLE TRAINING BOOT CAMPS
Oracle Certified Advantage Partner Arrow Enterprise Computing Solutions (Arrow ECS) has become an authorized Oracle Enablement 2.0 Delivery Partner, which allows Arrow ECS to offer Oracle boot camp training to resellers. Oracle boot camp training, designed exclu-sively for Oracle resellers, focuses on Oracle Database and Oracle Fusion Middleware, including business
intel-ligence, business process management, content management, Oracle Coherence, Oracle WebLogic Server, and Oracle Application Integration Architecture. The two- and three-day regional boot camps provide a combination of class-room lectures and hands-on training. Arrow ECS will also offer one-day sales demand-generation training in conjunc-tion with the technical boot camps.
ATTUNITY INTRODUCES DATA REPLICATION SOLUTION
Attunity, an Oracle partner with Oracle Warehouse Builder certification, has introduced solutions enabling Oracle customers to replicate data in real time to and from Oracle databases. The solu-tions are based on a concept Attunity calls “operational data replication,” which supports real-time business intel-ligence requirements and is an alterna-tive to homegrown data replication solutions and enterprise data replication software packages. Attunity’s low-impact change data capture technology captures
and processes only the changes made to heterogeneous relational and nonrela-tional enterprise datasources.
Attunity solutions include a stand-alone operational data replication application for replicating data across het-erogeneous datasources, an operational data replication solution that can be integrated with existing database invest-ments, and an event-driven operational data replication that captures database change events. All three solutions support Oracle as a source or target for data.
ORACLE ANNOUNCES ORACLE EXADATA PARTNER PROGRAM
Oracle has created the Oracle Exadata Partner Program, which supports Oracle partners that resell Sun Oracle Database Machines and Sun Oracle Exadata Storage Servers. Resellers participating in the Oracle Exadata Partner Program must be enrolled in the Oracle PartnerNetwork and hold a valid Full Use Distribution Agreement to resell Oracle Exadata
WIPRO ANNOUNCES SAAS PLATFORM
Oracle Certified Advantage Partner Wipro Technologies has unveiled w-SaaS, a platform for rapid software-as-a-service (SaaS) enablement of busi-ness applications using Oracle Grid Computing and Oracle application grid middleware. The w-SaaS platform will help independent software vendors (ISVs) move business applications to SaaS so traditional single-tenant applica-tions can operate in multitenant mode. The platform is initially aimed at the energy and utilities, retail, transporta-tion, healthcare, and manufacturing industries in North America.
Wipro has also signed a codevelop-ment agreecodevelop-ment with Oracle to develop process integration packs using Oracle Application Integration Architecture for the communications, retail, consumer products, high-tech, and industrial manufacturing industries. The process integration packs will include campaign to cash for high-tech companies, order to activate for communications compa-nies, and design to release for process manufacturing companies.
JGI LAUNCHES ORACLE ACCELERATE
SOLUTION FOR NONPROFITS
JGI, an Oracle Certified Partner, has released an application implementa-tion soluimplementa-tion for Oracle’s PeopleSoft enterprise human capital management and financial management software for midsize nonprofit organizations. This Oracle Accelerate solution provides a fixed-cost and fixed-scope approach to human capital management and finan-cial management. JGI uses a lab-based deployment approach in which it hosts the development environment on its servers and conducts the majority of the project development work there. The solution can later be moved to the cus-tomer’s data center, or it can continue to be hosted by JGI.
JGI also offers Oracle Accelerate solu-tions for the financial, media and enter-tainment, healthcare, and professional services industries.
ZEUS ANNOUNCES ZEUS TRAFFIC MANAGEMENT SOFTWARE TEMPLATE FOR ORACLE VM
Zeus Technology, a software-based application traffic management company and an Oracle partner, has announced the Zeus Traffic Manager Template, a preinstalled, preconfigured virtual machine for Oracle VM. The Zeus Template for Oracle VM speeds deploy-ment of the Zeus Traffic Manager, an enterprise-class, layer-7 load-balancing and application-traffic-management
solution, in an Oracle VM environ-ment. Developers can use Zeus Traffic Manager to control Web application traffic via Zeus TrafficScript, a program-ming language that works with Eclipse through the Zeus Eclipse plug-in.
The product, available for free down-load, is certified with Oracle Enterprise Linux and can be deployed in any phys-ical, virtual, or cloud environment.
NETSUITE LINKS CLOUD-BASED SOFTWARE WITH ORACLE E-BUSINESS SUITE
NetSuite, a vendor of cloud comput-ing business management software, has unveiled NetSuite OneWorld for Oracle, a new version of its NetSuite OneWorld software-as-a-service application that enables Oracle E-Business Suite enterprise customers to deploy NetSuite business applications at the divisional level while retaining corporate Oracle applications. The offering uses a new integration solution called SuiteCloud Connect for Oracle to integrate NetSuite OneWorld for Oracle with Oracle E-Business
Suite. With SuiteCloud Connect for Oracle, companies can combine Oracle E-Business Suite and NetSuite OneWorld for Oracle to manage multinational, multisubsidiary businesses in real time. Division-level transaction and summary data can be rolled from NetSuite OneWorld for Oracle into Oracle E-Business Suite for an enterprisewide view of business operations. For example, a company could roll up general ledger, order, and revenue information for aggre-gate financial reporting.
INFOGAIN UNVEILS FIVE INITIATIVES FOR RETAILERS
Oracle Certified Partner Infogain is offer-ing five solutions to support retailers of all sizes that use Oracle Retail applica-tions. Infogain’s Retail Store System Implementation uses a dual-shore model and an iterative methodology to assess and implement Oracle Retail store appli-cations. Infogain’s Retail Merchandising Solution uses built-in accelerators, inter-faces, and reusable templates and scripts to integrate Oracle Retail merchandising applications with back-end financial and front-end store solutions. Infogain’s Retail Application Management Solution manages the application lifecycle and product environments across
devel-opment, support, and production, and provides assessment monitoring, maintenance support, administration, and other services. Infogain’s Retail Oracle E-Business Suite Integration, a framework of prebuilt accelerators and interfaces, integrates front-end store and point-of-sale solutions with back-end systems, including financials and inven-tory. The last solution, Infogain’s Oracle BI for Retailers, enables Oracle Business Intelligence Suite, Enterprise Edition Plus functionality on Oracle Retail Data Warehouse, so an organization’s employ-ees can access analytical information optimized for their roles.
ALTOVA UPDATES MAPFORCE DATA MAPPING TOOL
MapForce 2010, the latest version of Oracle partner Altova’s data mapping tool, allows users to process data from or into multiple files, making it easy to consolidate file collections or output data from one file to many. Input or
PARTNER NEWS
InQuira www.inquira.com
Arrow Enterprise Computing Solutions www.alttech.com/products/oracle/bootcamps Oracle Exadata Partner Program oracle.com/database/exadata.html Attunity
www.attunity.com NetSuite
www.netsuite.com/oneworld-for-oracle Zeus Technology
www.zeus.com/landing/oracle-vm-zeus Altova
www.altova.com Infogain www.infogain.com Wipro Technologies www.wipro.com JGI www.jginfo.com Excel4apps www.excel4apps.com Novosoft www.handybackup.net
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NOVOSOFT DELIVERS BACKUP SOLUTION FOR ORACLE DATABASE
Oracle partner Novosoft, a provider of backup solutions for Windows-based servers, has released Handy Backup 6.4, which supports Oracle Database using the Open Database Connectivity (ODBC) protocol. Handy Backup pro-vides hot database backup of all data-base table data, archive logs before and after backup, SPFILEs, control files, set-tings, and passwords.
Handy Backup is compatible with most Oracle Database releases, includ-ing Oracle Database 10g and Oracle Database 11g. Support for database backup is standard in the Handy Backup Professional Edition and is available with Handy Backup Standard using a plug-in. Another version, Handy Backup Server, supports backup of Oracle databases on networked workstations. O
EXCEL4APPS ACCELERATES REPORT CONVERSION FOR ORACLE
Excel4apps, an Oracle partner and a provider of Microsoft Excel–based reporting and budgeting software for Oracle users, has released GL Wand 3.90. The upgraded application converts reports from Oracle’s financial statement generator into formatted, refreshable, and drillable Microsoft Excel spread-sheets that access live financial data from
Oracle General Ledger.
Companies with customized finan-cial statement generator reports can also use GL Wand to convert the reports to Excel for manipulation. GL Wand’s drill-down capabilities allow users to view live Oracle data at the journal and subledger levels and see multiple trans-actions at once.
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for the survival of this magnificent animal. Polar Bears International
also funds educational programs that are inspiring
people to reduce their carbon emissions.
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