As Published In May/June 2004

Vendor News

In This Issue:

VERITAS
Sierra Atlantic
A2i
Book Beat

VERITAS Improves Database Performance on Storage Platforms

VERITAS has made its application-performance-management (APM) software, Storage Extension for EMC, available as an option to VERITAS Indepth for Oracle. Storage Extension for EMC enables IT managers to optimize EMC storage arrays and customize applications and databases for optimal performance in EMC environments.

Storage Extension for EMC, which can be used as a replacement for EMC's DB Tuner software (which EMC plans to stop supporting), is designed to work with the latest versions of VERITAS Indepth and i3 APM software. The new extension enables VERITAS Indepth for Oracle APM software to display performance metrics from EMC Symmetrix and CLARiiON storage arrays. VERITAS APM software also supports storage arrays from HP, Hitachi, and IBM.

VERITAS solutions automatically provision shared pools of storage, servers, and resources across multiple applications and internal operations, providing the building blocks for utility computing.

Sierra Atlantic Upgrades, Announces Oracle Center of Excellence

Sierra Atlantic has announced two product upgrades: ECO Lens 2.0, an engineering change order (ECO) system, and SCMnet 4.1, a supply chain management (SCM) application that integrates data from product lifecycle management (PLM) applications with enterprise resource planning (ERP) systems.

Web Locator VERITAS Sierra Atlantic A2i

ECO Lens 2.0 allows original equipment manufacturers (OEMs) and contract manufacturers to extend the impact analysis of their ECOs to deep inside the supply chain. The new version taps into enterprise applications such as Oracle's and enables OEMs to analyze, early in the ECO lifecycle, the impact of ECOs on a variety of inventories—on hand, on order, and work in progress (WIP)—at their own sites, as well as those of subcontractors. OEMs can use ECO Lens to implement ECOs better because it allows them to understand the downstream impact at the subcontractor level. SCMnet 4.1 reduces the cost, complexity, and risk of integrating application packages by integrating product-content data retrieved from PLM products such as Agile Product Collaboration with ERP systems such as Oracle's.

Sierra Atlantic is also expanding its Oracle E-Business Suite integration services and creating a Center of Excellence to provide best practices and integration services to Oracle software partners and customers.

A2i Adds Support for Oracle Application Server and Portal

To complement its support for the Oracle database, A2i, a maker of content-management solutions for catalogs, recently announced support for Oracle Application Server and Oracle Application Server Portal. A2i's customers can now integrate and deploy the A2i xCat system in homogeneous Oracle environments.

A2i's xCat platform provides enterprisewide product-content management and cross-media catalog publishing, allowing customers to create and manage a single, centralized repository of highly structured product information and access and publish it in a variety of ways, including print and the Web. Within a wide range of vertical markets, including healthcare, automotive, and industrial, xCat offers extensive functionality out of the box. The xCat system can be tightly and seamlessly integrated into an overall enterprise architecture, eliminating data duplication and making the centralized product information available to other applications across the organization.

Book Beat Oracle Database 10g: A Beginner's Guide By Michael Abbey, Ian Abramson, and Michael Corey McGraw-Hill/Osborne's Oracle Press ISBN: 0072230789 Widely respected Oracle experts and best-selling Oracle Press authors Michael Abbey, Ian Abramson, and Michael Corey are back with a book designed for anyone who wants to work with Oracle Database. They have added entirely new sections to explain new concepts and functionality in the latest release of Oracle Database, helping to put those new features and functionality into context for busy and new DBAs. The book starts with a valuable overview of Oracle Database 10g, providing a detailed look at basic database concepts, SQL, and PL/SQL. The book provides solid instructions for performing basic database administrative tasks, and the authors provide numerous real-world examples and techniques. The book touches on other technologies germaine to Oracle, such as XML and Java. Oracle Essentials: Oracle Database 10g By Rick Greenwald, Robert Stackowiak, and Jonathan Stern O'Reilly & Associates ISBN: 0-596-00585-7 Oracle Essentials, 3rd Edition: Oracle Database 10g is a valuable text for anyone whose job involves managing or building systems using Oracle Database technology or working with staff who use Oracle technology. This book is the perfect all-in-one resource for understanding the complexities and capabilities of Oracle. The new edition of this book distills a vast amount of knowledge into an easy-to-read volume covering every aspect of Oracle Database. Featuring abundant illustrations and helpful hints, the book offers a valuable overview of the industry's first database to support grid computing. The book contains chapters on overall architecture for Oracle 10g, installing and running Oracle: how to configure, start up, and shut down the database, and various networking issues; Oracle data structures, datatypes, and ways of extending datatypes, with an introduction to Oracle objects (e.g., tables, views, indexes); managing Oracle: security, the Oracle Enterprise Manager, fragmentation and reorganization, and backup and recovery; and much more.