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AT ORACLE: Briefs
Oracle TimesTen In-Memory Database 6.0 Available
The latest release of Oracle TimesTen In-Memory Database is now available, marking the first product upgrade since Oracle's acquisition of TimesTen. Oracle TimesTen In-Memory Database is a memory-optimized relational database that gives applications instant responsiveness with the high throughput that industries such as telecom, financial services, and defense require. Deployed in the application tier as a cache or embedded database, Oracle TimesTen In-Memory Database operates on data stores that fit entirely in physical memory, using standard SQL interfaces.
Key enhancements to Release 6.0 include improved caching performance, enhanced (fivefold) cache update throughput, and improved cache load times. Cache availability and resilience have also improved, so that cache updates can now be replicated to provide protection against server failures, and caching remains operational even when the connection to Oracle Database is lost.
The new release also provides tighter integration, including support for Oracle Database 10g and certification with Oracle Application Server 10g and other major J2EE application servers. Support for standards has also been expanded, to include the SQL and Java Database Connectivity (JDBC) application programming interfaces (APIs), Java Message Service (JMS), and object-relational mapping certification. Finally, the new release also provides faster loading, refresh, and duplication and recovery of large data stores.
Oracle Powers World's Largest Commercial Database
According to results of the Winter Corporation 2005 TopTen Program, the world's largest commercial database—a 100TB data warehouse—runs Oracle Database. The database is more than three times the size of the world's largest database (29.2TB) in the previous TopTen Program in November 2003.
The survey, which identifies the world's leading database implementations based on database size and workload, also revealed that Oracle customers run 4 of the world's top 10 largest decision-support system (DSS) databases, 9 of the world's top 10 UNIX online transaction processing (OLTP) database implementations, 8 of the world's top 10 Most Rows/Records for the OLTP UNIX categories, and 3 of the 10 largest UNIX data warehouses. In addition, the survey revealed that the world's largest transaction processing system on UNIX runs Oracle Database, with more than 16TB of data.
This year's survey marks the first time that Linux made a showing in the top 10. The world's largest Linux data warehouse—which also runs Oracle—measures 24.8TB.
The survey polled 175 organizations on five continents and in 11 industries. Oracle customers made up 58 percent of TopTen Program participants.
JD Edwards EnterpriseOne Applications Certified with Oracle Fusion Middleware 10g Release 2
Oracle has certified its JD Edwards EnterpriseOne applications with Oracle Fusion Middleware 10g Release 2. This certification, along with the certification of Oracle E-Business Suite 11i with Oracle Fusion Middleware 10g Release 2, will make it easier for organizations to integrate and extend the value of their enterprise applications by using Oracle Fusion Middleware software.
As a result of this certification, JD Edwards applications are certified to run on Oracle Containers for J2EE. Application developers can use Oracle JDeveloper and Oracle Business Integration technologies to expose JD Edwards extended integration points as a set of discrete business services. Then, using Oracle BPEL Process Manager, an organization can compose these business services into new processes and applications and deploy them in service-oriented architectures (SOAs) for a more flexible infrastructure. JD Edwards customers can also access applications from an enterprise portal developed with Oracle Portal and will have comprehensive security, single-sign-on, and identity management capabilities through Oracle Identity Management.
In addition, this certification enables independent software vendors to use Oracle Fusion Middleware software to integrate with JD Edwards EnterpriseOne applications.
Oracle Enterprise Manager Expands Offerings
Following the general availability of Oracle Enterprise Manager 10g Release 2, in October 2005, new options are available that allow customers to ensure optimum performance and availability for their grid computing environments while reducing risks and management costs.
Among the new offerings are custom plug-ins to manage many non-Oracle components that exist within the Oracle grid; connectors that enable Oracle Grid Control to communicate with popular management frameworks; and a new service-level management option to actively monitor the availability and performance of nearly every kind of customer application—custom, packaged, and Web-based. Other options include a Provisioning Pack, which gives administrators the ability to automate deployment of software and patches across their entire environment, and an expanded configuration management solution for hosts running both Oracle and non-Oracle software.
Oracle Portlet Factory Eases SOA-Based Portlet Development
With the new Oracle Portlet Factory development tool, part of Oracle Fusion Middleware, organizations can use existing application assets to build user-specific business processes. As companies take advantage of the benefits of service-oriented architectures (SOAs), portlets provide a means of leveraging data from heterogeneous systems for use in portals and composite applications. Oracle Portlet Factory includes an integrated portlet development environment and an SAP adapter, which simplifies the process of building portlets for SAP applications. Developers can use the tool to drag and drop SAP functional components into portlets that are accessible through an organization's internal or external portal. Developers can also use the tool to build portlets to JSR 168, the industry standard enabling interoperability between portlets and portals.
Oracle Portlet Factory uses patented technology licensed from Bowstreet, a leading provider of portal-based tools and solutions, to allow developers to develop and deploy composite applications that incorporate data from disparate enterprise sources. Oracle Portlet Factory is scheduled to be available in calendar year 2006.
Oracle Security Developer Tools Support Federated Identity Management
Now available, Oracle Security Developer Tools are an integrated toolset used to federation-enable applications built and deployed on Oracle Application Server 10g Release 2. The tools allow organizations to securely share access to critical business data, execute transactions, and streamline business processes.
Based on industry standards such as OASIS Security Assertion Markup Language (SAML) and the Liberty Alliance Project, Oracle Security Developer Tools let organizations grant partners and customers access to their internal applications while maintaining high levels of security. For example, with federated access to a supplier's order management application, a sales representative for a retail company can tap into the supplier's network and provide a consumer with an order status update.
Oracle Security Developer Tools are available with Oracle Application Server 10g Release 2.
Oracle Mobile Push Mail Provides Remote E-Mail Solution
As enterprise workers become increasingly mobile, real-time access to e-mail is critical; however, few mobile workers currently have wireless access to their e-mail. With Oracle Mobile Push Mail, accessing e-mail remotely is easier than ever. Oracle Mobile Push Mail, a component of Oracle Collaboration Suite 10g, employs the Push IMAP (P-IMAP) standard to push new and updated messages from behind the firewall to all mobile devices, rather than requiring users to synchronize, or pull, their e-mail manually.
Oracle Mobile Push Mail features over-the-air management and provisioning—there is no desktop dependency. The client is installed, automatically upgraded, and provisioned over the air. The continuous, two-way, real-time Oracle Mobile Push Mail ensures that any changes on the mobile device—such as deletion of an e-mail—are wirelessly synchronized with the server in real time. Similarly, changes from the server are wirelessly reflected on the mobile device in real time; no cradle, desktop software, or manual reconciliation is required.
Oracle's solution relies on the HTTPS and Secure Sockets Layer (SSL) security stack. Data is encrypted on the device and during transmission. If a mobile device is lost or stolen, an administrator can remotely disable the device's access to corporate e-mail systems and wipe out all e-mails stored on the device.
Unlike other proprietary mobile e-mail solutions that support only specific back ends and a limited set of mobile devices, Oracle Mobile Push Mail supports a wide variety of platforms, channels, and devices. Today, Oracle Mobile Push Mail delivers service to PDAs such as Palm and PocketPC devices, BlackBerry devices, and a wide range of mobile phones. Oracle is working closely with device manufacturers to expand support. Oracle is also leading the efforts to standardize mobile e-mail based on the Internet Engineering Task Force's P-IMAP standard, as well as through participation in the Open Mobile Alliance.
Oracle Application Server 10g Certified with Oracle E-Business Suite 11i
Oracle E-Business Suite 11i has been certified with Oracle Application Server 10g for use of Oracle Discoverer, Oracle Integration, Oracle Internet Directory, Oracle Portal, Oracle Web Cache, and Oracle Single Sign-On.
The certified architecture supports the deployment of Oracle Application Server 10g on a standalone server or in a separate ORACLE_HOME on an existing server, connecting to one or more Oracle E-Business Suite 11i instances.
Integration of Oracle Application Server 10g and Oracle E-Business Suite 11i enables customers to connect a single enterprise portal to Web providers running on multiple Oracle E-Business Suite 11i instances and provides uniform single-sign-on support for all Release 11i applications. Other benefits include performance, scalability, and high availability via distributed architectures; bidirectional Oracle Internet Directory-to-FND_USER synchronization; and "link on the fly" support for environments where the single-sign-on user IDs in Oracle Internet Directory differ from the Release 11i user IDs.
Oracle Database Lite Supports Symbian OS
Oracle Database Lite 10g Release 2 will support Symbian OS, the open industry-standard operating system installed on more than 39 million data-enabled mobile phones. Oracle's support for Symbian will enable the secure transmission of critical business data to mobile workers, as well as providing continuous application availability.
As a Symbian Platinum Partner, Oracle will distribute its mobile database alongside Symbian OS, providing interoperability of data-enabled mobile phones with mobile networks, applications, and services. Oracle and Symbian are working with leading mobile network operators and phone manufacturers, including Motorola, Nokia, and NTT DoCoMo, to deliver a solution.
Oracle Content Services Upgrade Features New Interface
Oracle has released an upgrade to Oracle Content Services 10g that provides a new and intuitive Web graphical user interface plus the ability to access content by using a new feature called Oracle Drive. A new Web user interface is also available to support records administrators and users of Oracle Records Management 10g. With Oracle Drive, content managed by Oracle Content Services 10g appears exactly like another disk drive on the user's desktop when viewed through Microsoft Windows Explorer, giving users transparent and immediate access to content. The new upgrade enhances the usability of Oracle Content Services 10g and complements the product's unmatched scalability, security, and availability.
Together with the rich library of more than 200 Web services included with Oracle Content Services 10g, this upgrade will accelerate the deployment of content management and records management solutions that serve information workers throughout the enterprise by content-enabling customers' business processes and applications. The upgrade is free to customers that have licensed Oracle Collaboration Suite 10g or Oracle Content Services 10g.
Oracle Completes G-Log Acquisition
Oracle has completed the acquisition of G-Log, a leading provider of global logistics and transportation management software. This acquisition will allow Oracle to offer a comprehensive supply chain and logistics management solution that combines Oracle's technology infrastructure and enterprise resource planning and supply chain applications with G-Log's logistics platform.
G-Log delivers a single platform to plan, optimize, execute, analyze, and react to every aspect of supply chain flow. By bringing together logistics processes, data, knowledge, and analysis in a single business engine, G-Log's products allow companies to lower the total cost of ownership while giving them the ability to drive an integrated, information-oriented enterprise.
More than 50 percent of G-Log's customers run Oracle applications. Customers include shippers and logistics service providers such as Big Lots, Brown Shoes, DuPont, Excel, Family Dollar Stores, Giant Eagle, Halliburton, Kuehne + Nagel, Rohm and Haas, Tesco, Toll Solutions, UPM, and Volvo.
Oracle Acquires Innobase
Oracle has acquired Helsinki, Finland-based Innobase OY, the developer of the discrete transactional database technology InnoDB, which is distributed under an open source license as part of the MySQL database. Innobase's contractual relationship with MySQL is up for renewal in 2006, and Oracle fully expects to negotiate an extension to the relationship.
"Oracle has long been a supporter of open source software such as Linux and Apache," says Chuck Rozwat, Oracle executive vice president for database and middleware technology. "Innobase is an innovative small company that develops open source database technology. Oracle intends to continue developing the InnoDB technology and expand our commitment to open source software."
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Did You Know?
Managing Innovation Investments is Tough
In roundtable discussions involving 175 CFOs, CTOs, and other senior executives from North America, Europe, and Asia, 80 percent of executives said technology innovation is more important than ever to their companies' success, but just 31 percent said that their companies use leading analytical tools to make and track innovation investments. Half are spending more than 10 percent of their revenue on R&D spending, and 69 percent said increased pressure for short-term financial results is affecting their investment strategies.
Source:
Ernst & Young
Software Testing Creates Challenges in Northern Europe
Seventy-three percent of European companies surveyed said that IT directors, managers, or software developers are accountable for software testing. Just 9 percent said testing was the end-user department's responsibility, even though 43 percent said projects were late or failed altogether because of user changes in middevelopment. Seventy-four percent said that development time could be reduced through a more structured, business-risk-based approach to software testing. The 255 survey interviewees were in the U.K., the Netherlands, and Sweden.
Source:
LogicaCMG PLC
Multiple Passwords Create End-User Frustration
Twenty-eight percent of end users surveyed keep track of more than 13 passwords, and 30 percent manage between 6 and 12 passwords. Eighty-eight percent reported frustration with the password management process. A quarter of respondents maintain a spreadsheet or document on their PC with their passwords, and 82 percent of respondents said IT help desk staff must intervene when passwords are lost or forgotten. Survey respondents were 1,685 CIOs/CSOs, IT directors, managers, and administrators in the U.S.
Source:
RSA Security
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