Oracle today announced the general availability of
Oracle® WebCenter Suite, a new component of Oracle Fusion Middleware. Oracle
WebCenter Suite represents a step forward in increasing information worker productivity
by integrating the latest Web 2.0 technologies with business processes and data
sources to improve the way users work.
Oracle WebCenter Suite helps developers create more
effective solutions that meld transactional processes, business intelligence,
structured and unstructured content, communication and Web 2.0 services into
a rich on-line work environment. In doing this, it enables a new generation
of standards based applications that are interactive, customizable, extensible
and integrated. Furthermore, Oracle WebCenter Suite is the foundation for the
user interface of Oracle Fusion Applications. Today's announcement is a both
key step in the evolution of Oracle Fusion Architecture and an immediate tool
for use with existing versions of Oracle Applications.
"Oracle WebCenter Suite is the first environment
to provide a revolutionary approach to deploying the new wave of Web 2.0 technologies
across the enterprise," said Rahul B. Patel, vice president, Oracle Server
Technologies. "Because Oracle WebCenter Suite will provide a comprehensive
set of enterprise-class capabilities and rapid integration with Oracle and third
party infrastructure, our customers can realize both an immediate boost to productivity
and continuing long term savings."
Oracle WebCenter Suite Overview
The following key feature areas are included
in this release of Oracle WebCenter Suite:
- Oracle WebCenter Framework is a J2EE development
framework that adds rapid modular content creation and role based personalization
into J2EE and Java Server Faces (JSF) based Web applications. It provides
an optimized, declarative development environment for building highly interactive,
customizable applications that can host standards-based components such as
JSR-168 compliant portlets; with Oracle WebCenter Suite, Oracle is the first
major vendor to provide support for the emerging WSRP 2.0 standard. The framework
also provides a standard JSR-170 based content integration layer that allows
developers to directly leverage content stored in diverse repositories from
within their applications. This is an important step in the evolution of standards-based
technologies for building intuitive, interactive and productive applications
that blend multiple types and sources of information in a single context that
reflects a user's business function and interests. Multi-channel access for
any Oracle WebCenter application is part of the Oracle WebCenter Framework
so that users will have access to information whether in the office or on
the move. It enables users to connect and work wherever they happen to be
by exposing critical task flows and services through familiar mobile devices
and desktop tools including Microsoft Office and Exchange.
- Oracle WebCenter Services provide out-of-the-box
support for multiple types of collaboration and information sharing. It is
a collection of pre-built, horizontal, Web 2.0 services that includes content
management, threaded discussions, wikis, secure enterprise search, instant
messaging and online awareness. These services make it easier for developers
to create rich user experiences that bring all types of information and tools
together in a single place. Enterprises can use Oracle WebCenter Suite Services
to quickly create "Enterprise Mashups" that are modular composite
applications.
- Oracle WebCenter Studio exposes the Oracle WebCenter
Framework and Oracle WebCenter Services to programmers inside Oracle JDeveloper.
Oracle WebCenter provides several wizards to help with essential development
tasks such as building a portlet, consuming an existing portlet, creating
a data control to a content repository, and securing the application (to mention
just a few). By significantly reducing the amount of coding needed, Oracle
WebCenter dramatically increases developer productivity.
Oracle WebCenter - A Compelling Vision
"The vision is compelling, combining transactional, collaborative and
analytical modes of working into a single interface; rather than requiring users
to jump back and forth between unintegrated enterprise, desktop, and web applications,"
said Jim Murphy of AMR Research*. "Further, Oracle WebCenter Suite gives
developers complete control on how different elements are combined regardless
of source, and allows interfaces to be personalized by business users at the
individual, group, and organizational levels."
* AMR Report - "The Face of Oracle Apps: WebCenter Takes Center Stage",
Thursday, October 26, 2006, by Jim Murphy and Ian Finley
Pricing and Availability
A free evaluation version of Oracle WebCenter Suite is available at: http://www.oracle.com/technology/products/webcenter/index.html.
Oracle WebCenter Suite can be licensed as an option on top of Oracle Application
Server Enterprise Edition at a cost of $50,000 per CPU. Terms, conditions, and
restrictions apply.
Additional information on Oracle WebCenter Suite is available at: http://www.oracle.com/products/middleware/webcenter.html
About Oracle Fusion Middleware
The Company's comprehensive, standards-based family of middleware software,
Oracle Fusion Middleware enables customers to adopt and manage SOAs in heterogeneous
computing environments. More than 31,000 customers now use Oracle Fusion Middleware
and include leading organizations in the Financial Services, Telecommunications,
Manufacturing, Retail, Pharmaceuticals, Health Care and Public Sector industries.
Oracle Fusion Middleware is also supported by 9,000 partners, including leading
independent software vendors, value added resellers and system integrators.
About Oracle
Oracle is the world's largest enterprise software company. For more information
about Oracle, visit our Web site at: http://www.oracle.com
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