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BEA Acquisition Paves Way to Integration of Content Management and Next-Generation Portals
In the wake of its April 2008 acquisition of BEA Systems, Oracle has unveiled its latest vision for Oracle Fusion Middleware, including the integration of content management offerings with Web 2.0 services and next-generation enterprise portals as part of a larger Enterprise 2.0 strategy.
Customers will be able to add Enterprise 2.0 services to existing portals to increase the value and business impact of these sites. At the same time, portal customers will be able to rapidly enhance their existing portal deployment with Oracle Enterprise Content Management.
Why BEA?
The acquisition of BEA is a key part of Oracle's Enterprise 2.0 strategy to converge four key application types: rich media Web sites, transactional applications that integrate with enterprise applications and other systems, traditional portals, and social Web 2.0 functionality.
"Traditionally, you had to pick a different framework and different toolset for each application type," explains Thomas Kurian, senior vice president, Oracle. "Now, Oracle has a single programming model to develop all four types. That means our customers and partners can develop and deploy applications on the Internet, while significantly lowering both complexity and total cost of ownership."
A Use Case: Converging ECM and Next-Generation Portals
Traditionally, documents—for example, a sales report—were shared via e-mail, which introduced the potential for version control problems and data inconsistency. A better approach is to check that sales report into a next-generation portal integrated with an enterprise content management system, where it is versioned and indexed, making it available—and easily searchable—to a collection of individuals via a portal workspace.
Enterprise 2.0 services enable updates as soon as the report is checked in. When a new user comes online, the update is visible via RSS feed, allowing the report to be reviewed immediately. If a question arises, a post in a centralized group discussion forum online can lead to quick resolution, while avoiding the redundancy inherent in sending follow-up e-mails.
When a colleague responds, their online availability is visible to other forum members, enabling instant communication via the most suitable vehicle—chat, VOIP, or any traditional channel. Users can tag responses so they are easily searchable by other members of the community who find the topic relevant.
"The result is richer interactions, robust content, and significantly streamlined business processes," says Andy MacMillan, vice president, product management at Oracle.
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