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AT ORACLE: Briefs
Oracle HTML DB 2.0 Now Available
Now shipping, the latest release of Oracle's Web-based development and deployment environment, Oracle HTML DB, focuses on developer productivity around manipulating database objects.
Enhancements include a new database object browser that allows users to filter objects and to quickly switch between object types and objects; multipage transactions in SQL Commands; and an editor that addresses the issues of editing PL/SQL code in a standard HTML text area.
Also new in Oracle HTML DB 2.0, Graphical Query Builder is a tool for visually designing SQL queries. Users can create queries by selecting tables and columns and by connecting tables to create joins. Then they can view the results, export them to a spreadsheet, or simply view the SQL. Queries can be saved for later use to build additional Oracle HTML DB applications.
Oracle Cluster File System Release 2 Now Available
Oracle Cluster File System Release 2 (OCFS2), an enterprise-class open-source cluster file system, is now a standard component in Novell's SUSE Linux Enterprise Server distributions. This inclusion makes it easier for users to hit the ground running with a preinstalled cluster file management system.
Enhancements in OCFS2 can significantly ease system management while improving performance. For example, all nodes in a cluster can access a file system concurrently, simplifying the management of databases shared across a cluster. For Oracle Real Application Clusters customers, OCFS2 eliminates the need to manage and set up raw disk devices, making cluster database administration much easier. The new version also includes expanded capabilities to run nondatabase, standard file system operations. Prior to this release, database administrators had to go through a time-consuming process of installing software on each node of a cluster. Now, software need only be installed on one instance of the cluster, and all nodes share.
Oracle Application Server 10g R3 Focuses on SOA
Oracle Application Server 10g Release 3, available later this fiscal year, is designed to provide a standards-based, mission-critical, end-to-end platform for organizations deploying service-oriented architectures (SOAs).
"One of the real challenges in an SOA is to have an entire suite of components, for everything from designing Web services to securing and monitoring them," says Dennis MacNeil, principal product director at Oracle. "Because these applications often don't have a long lifespan in a single format, organizations need the business agility to quickly modify their Web services in response to changing business needs."
Oracle Application Server 10g R3 addresses this challenge with new business rules functionality and support for key Web services standards, including Web Services-Security, Web Services-Reliability, and those in J2EE 1.4.
Oracle Discoverer 10g Certified for PeopleSoft
Oracle Business Intelligence Discoverer 10g (Oracle Discoverer 10g) is now certified for Oracle's PeopleSoft Enterprise Performance Management (EPM) 8.9. Now PeopleSoft EPM 8.9 customers can access and analyze critical business data using Oracle Discoverer 10g, enabling reduced integration costs and complexity. In addition to self-service access to the reporting, analysis, customization, and Web-publishing capabilities of Oracle Discoverer, PeopleSoft EPM users can also navigate using Microsoft Excel.
"With the certification of Oracle Discoverer 10g for PeopleSoft EPM 8.9, PeopleSoft customers finally have the option of standardizing on an end-to-end business intelligence framework from a single vendor," says John Wookey, senior vice president of application development at Oracle.
Automate Compliance with Oracle Internal Controls Manager
According to a recent report from CFO Research Services, Compliance and Technology: A Special Report on Process Improvement and Automation in the Age of Sarbanes-Oxley, automating compliance and control environment in Year Two of Sarbanes-Oxley compliance is a priority for more than 75 percent of survey respondents.
Oracle Internal Controls Manager, now in its third release, provides automated testing of segregation-of-duties and application controls, saving companies time and money. Unlike standalone products, Oracle Internal Controls Manager allows companies to manage access and system controls from within a risk-management framework. The risk and control library holds definitions for the segregation-of-duties conflicts, as well as for the application controls built into Oracle E-Business Suite. Part of Oracle Financials, Oracle Internal Controls Manager continuously monitors changes to the control settings within Oracle E-Business Suite to help companies detect unauthorized changes, prevent fraud, and minimize disruption to mission-critical systems.
Get Control with Oracle Projects
The latest release of Oracle Projects gives organizations better control over project work and finances through integrated work execution and financial management, improved budgeting and forecasting, and better visibility into project performance and billing.
New to this release, the Oracle Project Portfolio Analysis module enables project-centric businesses and departments to more easily plan, execute, and control their portfolios of projects, no matter how complex. Managers can view all proposed projects through a common filter to see which most closely match the organization's goals, available funding, ROI targets, and other key criteria. "What-if" scenarios can be used to assess the impact on project funding with various portfolio mixes. By having a view of the entire portfolio, businesses can optimize the mix of projects they undertake and reduce risk. In addition to being a valuable tool for internal IT teams, Oracle Project Portfolio Analysis can streamline service delivery in other project-centric departments, such as marketing, research, and new product development.
XML Publisher Standalone Now Available
A standalone version of Oracle XML Publisher, Oracle's Java-based tool for customer-facing reports, is now available. Previously packaged only with Oracle E-Business Suite, Oracle XML Publisher provides a template-based, easy-to-use publishing solution that lets users easily and rapidly develop and maintain reports, such as invoices, purchase orders, checks, and government forms. Typically organizations require multiple solutions from various vendors to solve their reporting needs, resulting in a complex and expensive reporting framework.
Oracle XML Publisher simplifies this picture. By separating report data from the layout, IT shops can concentrate on extracting data. Then, business users can use Microsoft Word and Adobe Acrobat to define the layout and design the content. Couple this design approach with the flexible delivery options, powerful processors, and translation support, and customers have a complete solution—all in one product.
Oracle Purchases Stake in i-flex
Oracle has purchased a majority interest in India's largest applications software company, i-flex solutions. Software products from i-flex support corporate banking, consumer banking, investment banking, internet banking, asset management, and investor services. i-flex has provided software and services to 575 banks in 115 countries.
"i-flex is the hottest software company in the banking industry, signing more new customers than any other banking software company in each of the last three years," says Oracle CEO Larry Ellison. "Banking is a strategic industry for Oracle, with 9 out of the top 10 banks already running Oracle ERP [enterprise resource planning] applications. Oracle's overall application strategy is to go beyond ERP and offer customers richer industry-specific functionality. i-flex gets us there in banking."
Oracle Acquires Context Media Assets
Oracle has acquired certain technology assets of Context Media, a leading provider of enterprise content integration software, to extend Oracle Fusion Middleware and to complement the enterprise content management capabilities in Oracle Collaboration Suite. The addition of enterprise content integration technology to Oracle's enterprise content management capabilities provides an open solution to managing content from diverse sources.
Oracle Agrees to Buy Siebel
Oracle plans to buy Siebel, the leading provider of customer relationship management (CRM) software. Siebel provides products and industry solutions to more than 4,000 customers and close to 3.5 million end users. Oracle plans to make the features of those products the centerpiece of its Oracle Fusion CRM products.
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Did You Know?
Oracle Applications Most Reliable
Twenty-four percent of business decision-makers in U.S. companies with 1,000 or more employees say that Oracle applications are the most reliable—more than those of any other software maker. Microsoft came in second (21 percent), IBM third (20 percent), and SAP fourth (eight percent). One hundred nine people participated in the survey.
Source:
Sage Research, Sage Market Pulse
Sarbanes-Oxley Hits Budgets—
and CIOs
CIOs estimate that their organizations spent just under two percent of gross revenue—and an average of US$1.45 million of their IT budget—to comply with Sarbanes-Oxley (SOX) during the 12 months ending in August 2005, according to a survey of 292 CIOs in the U.S. On a personal level, 20 percent of CIOs estimate losing one to four years of their life to SOX compliance-related activities, and another five percent estimate losing five or more years.
Source:
CIO Executive Council News Poll
RFID Momentum Continues
In the wake of retail and government mandates, 69 percent of companies surveyed are planning to evaluate, pilot, or implement Radio Frequency Identification (RFID) in 2005, with the average budget for RFID at more than US$548,000, according to a survey of 500 companies primarily based in the U.S. Compliance remains the key factor driving RFID implementation for most respondents. Twenty-nine percent of respondents believe that RFID standards have reached an appropriate level of maturity.
Source:
AMR Research
Execs Believe That CIOs Belong
on the Board
Forty-six percent of more than 2,000 global executives surveyed believe that the chief information officer "absolutely" has a role to play on a company's board of directors. Three percent of respondents answered the same question with "not at all."
Source:
Korn/Ferry International Executive Quiz
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