The main theme of the OOW 2008 event was Complete, Open, Integrated. Although the buzz words sound great, one had to dig a little deeper to get Oracle's vision around this key theme.
My understanding is as follows:
Complete - Oracle now has 3000 applications in its inventory. The vision of complete is to have one vendor that provides best-of-breed functionality, but more importantly controls the components within those acquired applications that bring unique value. This enables the ability to leverage functionality across Oracle's entire suite of products. This direction, in the form of pre-built integration points (hooks), is apparent in the new tool sets and new functionality within existing product sets that are becoming available.
Open - The usual connotation of open implying "Open Source" (ex: Apache, Python, etc.) does not apply to Oracle's context of "Open". In The Oracle context each application or product suite has a well defined set of interaction points, which can be invoked using an open standard (ex: SOAP, WSDL, UDDI, etc.) The applications are not built using open source tools, but the integration mechansisms are standardized using open source standards. Oracle is also providing hooks for its development environments (IDE) to use open development tools such as Eclipse. In essesnce Oracle has its own definition for "Open".
Integrated - This is a necessity for Oracle. The vision here is that organizations have a complex application foot-print, for several good reasons. Oracle's approach is to not necessarily replace applications, but provide a product to tie applications together in a standards-based approach. This is essentially the AIA (Application Integration Architecture) message from OOW 2007, which has been repurposed as part of a larger theme.
Bottom Line: The Complete and Open message is a consequence of the large number of acquistions. The Integrated message is a necessity. There is a dichotomy in the Open and Integrated message. On the one hand Oracle is pushing the "Open and Standards based" message to encourage partners to build niche solutions. But with the "Integrated" message Oracle is telegraphing its intent to provide out-of-the-box integration, and as Charles Phillips puts it "Eliminate the need for consultants to integrate your applications".
Monday, October 13, 2008
OOW 2008 - Application Integration Architecture
AIA seems to have become integral to many of the offerings from Oracle. It is now assumed that AIA is the integration mechanism across all product stacks, unless stated otherwise. This was quite surprising, since the AIA product suite itself has matured only in the last 6 months. It shows the surprising rapidness with which Oracle has internally embraced the AIA message. This space will continue to grow rapidly, as Oracle continues to use AIA internally and continues to roll out newer (and enriched) versions of the Foundation Pack.
The interesting new development in this space, was the newly announced approach to start building composite (stand-alone) applications using AIA. This is a different direction for AIA, as it takes the AIA Suite out of the integration realm and into the broader domain of composite application development. This would have been the eventual evolution of the product suite, but it seems to have already started moving in that direction.
The implication here is that new applications can be developed which implicitly integrate functionality from disparate systems. With this approach AIA moves from simply being a stack of "pipes" to becoming a "jacuzzi" (or sewage pump, or flush tank, or... you get my point). It has moved from being the plumbing to a usable end-application.
On a side note, I would not be surprised if AIA was rebranded in the near future. AIA is not really an architecture (more like a framework), it has grown beyond simply being an integration platform, and is not meant simply to connect two major application suites. Although all of the above were true when AIA originally came out, it has evolved from "plumber's putty" to now being applicable to a whole host of new areas and would be more aptly characterized by its likeness to "Gorilla glue" (pun intended).
The interesting new development in this space, was the newly announced approach to start building composite (stand-alone) applications using AIA. This is a different direction for AIA, as it takes the AIA Suite out of the integration realm and into the broader domain of composite application development. This would have been the eventual evolution of the product suite, but it seems to have already started moving in that direction.
The implication here is that new applications can be developed which implicitly integrate functionality from disparate systems. With this approach AIA moves from simply being a stack of "pipes" to becoming a "jacuzzi" (or sewage pump, or flush tank, or... you get my point). It has moved from being the plumbing to a usable end-application.
On a side note, I would not be surprised if AIA was rebranded in the near future. AIA is not really an architecture (more like a framework), it has grown beyond simply being an integration platform, and is not meant simply to connect two major application suites. Although all of the above were true when AIA originally came out, it has evolved from "plumber's putty" to now being applicable to a whole host of new areas and would be more aptly characterized by its likeness to "Gorilla glue" (pun intended).
OOW 2008 - Industry focus
Healthcare continues to a be an area of focus for Oracle. Charles Phillips announced creation of the Healthcare Global Business Unit (GBU) which implies a huge international foucs in this domain. The message to techies is start reading up on HL7, it will be a "very very nice to have" in the near future.
Also interesting was the announcements of the 2 new acquisitions of AdminServer and Skywire. Although the acquisitions had already been announced in June-08, the fact that they were highlighted in key note sessions shows their importance to Oracle. Both these applications help employers manage insurance related functionality. This is a new area for Oracle and may be part of a larger attempt to provide and outsourced business administration service such as workday.com
Also interesting was the announcements of the 2 new acquisitions of AdminServer and Skywire. Although the acquisitions had already been announced in June-08, the fact that they were highlighted in key note sessions shows their importance to Oracle. Both these applications help employers manage insurance related functionality. This is a new area for Oracle and may be part of a larger attempt to provide and outsourced business administration service such as workday.com
Applications Unlimited and Fusion Applications
Nothing new in this, except for a reaffirmation that all ERP application suites will be indefinitely supported. I guess there must still be Oracle customers who need to hear this message every morning, to reaffirm their faith in Oracle and not call 1.800.872.1727.
The strategy for Fusion Applications seems to be more focused towards leveraging the latest in Web 2.0 and BI technologies. The core functionality would be based on an AIA framework. The vision to use end-user friendly products is appealing.
Also it was not surprising to hear that Fusion applications would be available both on premise and in a hosted model. What was surprising was to hear that it would also be available in "any combination" of models. This points to a radically different delivery model for a major ERP suite.
The strategy for Fusion Applications seems to be more focused towards leveraging the latest in Web 2.0 and BI technologies. The core functionality would be based on an AIA framework. The vision to use end-user friendly products is appealing.
Also it was not surprising to hear that Fusion applications would be available both on premise and in a hosted model. What was surprising was to hear that it would also be available in "any combination" of models. This points to a radically different delivery model for a major ERP suite.
BEA's impact on Fusion Middleware
Components of BEA will be morphed into the Oracle Fusion Middleware Suite. The strategic direction for each product line and the overlapping functionality has been made clear by Oracle (subject of a separate post).
The relevant points of interest are
1. Oracle ESB will become Oracle Service Bus. implying in techie terms that Oracle ESB is dead... long live BEA Aqualogic.
2. Oracle Java Machine is also dead... long live BEA JRockit.
3. OC4J is over... BEA J2EE Container comes out the winner.
4. Oracle Services Repository will be replaced by Aqualogic Enterprise Repository.
The major component that carries over from Oracle Fusion Middleware is Oracle BPEL.
The relevant points of interest are
1. Oracle ESB will become Oracle Service Bus. implying in techie terms that Oracle ESB is dead... long live BEA Aqualogic.
2. Oracle Java Machine is also dead... long live BEA JRockit.
3. OC4J is over... BEA J2EE Container comes out the winner.
4. Oracle Services Repository will be replaced by Aqualogic Enterprise Repository.
The major component that carries over from Oracle Fusion Middleware is Oracle BPEL.
CEP and EDA replace SOA as buzz word
SOA is no longer as major a buzz word as it used to be, although the concept is now well adopted and is intrinsic in most of the newer releases of Oracle products.
The newer buzz words in the SOA domain are EDA (Event Driven Architecture) and CEP (Complex Event Processing). Both of these terms are finer aspects of SOA and focus on managing and monitoring the triggering points in a SOA environment.
The Oracle Complex Event Processing and Oracle WebLogic Event Server are products in this space.
The newer buzz words in the SOA domain are EDA (Event Driven Architecture) and CEP (Complex Event Processing). Both of these terms are finer aspects of SOA and focus on managing and monitoring the triggering points in a SOA environment.
The Oracle Complex Event Processing and Oracle WebLogic Event Server are products in this space.
Cloud computing with Amazon
For those new to the concept of cloud computing, it is similar to the concept of leveraging disparate functionality in a SOA environment. However, in this case the Oracle Database and Middleware products are hosted by Amazon, and the database and middleware functionality can be leveraged as a service. (A picture would explain this better... future post). Lookup EC2 (Elastic Compute Cloud) and AMI (Amazon Machine Images) for more information.
These are powerful new development in this uber-geek domain. What it does mean is that databases are being commoditized and you could essentially use a database in the same way as you use a telephone. Sounds surreal... so did SOA 4 years ago.
Footnote: Don't imagine these clouds to be white and fluffy... darkish grey and Amazon-shaped would be more appropriate.
These are powerful new development in this uber-geek domain. What it does mean is that databases are being commoditized and you could essentially use a database in the same way as you use a telephone. Sounds surreal... so did SOA 4 years ago.
Footnote: Don't imagine these clouds to be white and fluffy... darkish grey and Amazon-shaped would be more appropriate.
Oracle Beehive
This was a new product suite announced during OOW. This is a reworked version of the Oracle Collaboration Suite, and Oracle's "Enterprise 2.0" offering.
This suite consists of 2 sets of functionality:
1. Communication tools such as email/voice mail/chat
2. Coordination tools such as Calendaring and document sharing.
With the number of bees painted on the sidewalks around the convention center, it was obvious that Oracle was strongly pushing this new product suite.
The combination of Oracle Web Center, Beehive and Oracle Content Management is Oracle's answer to Enterprise 2.0. It will be interesting to watch how Oracle integrates this pseudo-social networking tool into the enterprise.
This suite consists of 2 sets of functionality:
1. Communication tools such as email/voice mail/chat
2. Coordination tools such as Calendaring and document sharing.
With the number of bees painted on the sidewalks around the convention center, it was obvious that Oracle was strongly pushing this new product suite.
The combination of Oracle Web Center, Beehive and Oracle Content Management is Oracle's answer to Enterprise 2.0. It will be interesting to watch how Oracle integrates this pseudo-social networking tool into the enterprise.
Application Grid
The concept behind the application grid is to provide a virtualized in-memory data layer which can be accessed by any application. This has significant impact in improving performance and de-coupling physical data from applications.
The application grid is labeled Weblogic Application Grid and is a combination of Oracle Coherence (an in-memory data grid), Oracle JRockit (Java Virtual Machine) and Oracle Enterprise Manager.
The application grid is to the database, as AIA is to SOA. This is a space to watch out for, as the concept is still nascent, but would have huge impact on future application design.
Note: This is really an application layer product, and is different from the database grid product suite which is implicit in all Oracle databases.
The application grid is labeled Weblogic Application Grid and is a combination of Oracle Coherence (an in-memory data grid), Oracle JRockit (Java Virtual Machine) and Oracle Enterprise Manager.
The application grid is to the database, as AIA is to SOA. This is a space to watch out for, as the concept is still nascent, but would have huge impact on future application design.
Note: This is really an application layer product, and is different from the database grid product suite which is implicit in all Oracle databases.
The new BI... Hyperion and EPM
Last year OBIEE was the only Oracle BI offering. With the acquisition of Hyperion there is a whole new product suite and toolset that Oracle is now part of the Oracle ecosystem. There is overlapping functionality between these major product suites and this has caused the BI space to become less clear.
The Enterprise Performance Workspace (a Hyperion product) may eventually replace the OBIEE dashboard functionality. The SmartView offering in this same space is intriguing as it provides integration with MS Office products. Expect more confusion before the dust settles in this area.
The Essbase database appears to be the clear front runner in the OLAP space. It will eventually become the tool of choice for OLAP processing and OLAP based applications.
The Enterprise Performance Workspace (a Hyperion product) may eventually replace the OBIEE dashboard functionality. The SmartView offering in this same space is intriguing as it provides integration with MS Office products. Expect more confusion before the dust settles in this area.
The Essbase database appears to be the clear front runner in the OLAP space. It will eventually become the tool of choice for OLAP processing and OLAP based applications.
Oracle as a hardware vendor
This topic has been written about ad-nauseum since Larry Ellison made the announcement on 9/24/08. The large "X" that hinted about this throughout the venue added to the buzz. Here is a very brief recap:
1. Oracle Exadata - A specialized storage device that returns query results, rather than data blocks to the database server
2. HP-Oracle Database Machine - A VERY big (64-CPU) database server, offered in conjunction with the above mentioned storage option.
For large terabyte sized datawarehouses, this is a compelling value proposition. We should expect the hardware offerings to be scaled down over time to serve the small-to-medium business segment. The macro effects of this hardware play by Oracle will be far reaching.
1. Oracle Exadata - A specialized storage device that returns query results, rather than data blocks to the database server
2. HP-Oracle Database Machine - A VERY big (64-CPU) database server, offered in conjunction with the above mentioned storage option.
For large terabyte sized datawarehouses, this is a compelling value proposition. We should expect the hardware offerings to be scaled down over time to serve the small-to-medium business segment. The macro effects of this hardware play by Oracle will be far reaching.
Metalink becomes MySupport
The new support website (although the link remains metalink.oracle.com) is revolutionary. Instead of being a static search based content provider, it now recognizes the systems that you have based on your CSI, and provides analysis of these systems. You do need to switch on these features on the host system, which incidentally are switched on by default.
More importantly The UI is dramatically different, with a portal based look and feel. The ability to add portlets of content specific to your needs is very useful. This new website shows how content searching should be.
More importantly The UI is dramatically different, with a portal based look and feel. The ability to add portlets of content specific to your needs is very useful. This new website shows how content searching should be.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
