OracleAppsBlog

A day in the life of an Oracle Applications Consultant

Project Fusion

Monday, June 20, 2005

Oracle Fusion for SAP R/3 Customers

An eye for an eye. Oracle recently announced an initiative named OFF SAP, the objective of which is to try and win over SAP R/3 customers who have to pay to upgrade to mySAP ERP or mySAP Business Suite. This seems to be in response to the SAP Safe Passage Programme, which is designed to lure PeopleSoft, JD Edwards and Retek users away from Oracle.

Details of the programme are contained in an Oracle press statement, an excerpt of which states:

Under the new program, Oracle Fusion for SAP or “OFF SAP,” Oracle will offer SAP R/3 customers up to a 100% license credit, to switch from SAP to Oracle applications. Additionally, as part of “OFF SAP,” Oracle Consulting is announcing a new, free INSIGHT for SAP Migration offer, which includes a discovery workshop for R/3 customers that results in an assessment of the customers’ specific migration plan. With INSIGHT for SAP Migration, Oracle Consulting will provide customers with a clear understanding of the migration process and benefits. Oracle Financing will offer a two-year payment plan for the application license and support fees, with no interest and no payments for six months, followed by six installments. Together, these programs will allow customers to quickly begin receiving value from their Oracle applications, mapping payments to benefits over two years.

SAP requires customers who choose to upgrade from SAP R/3 to mySAP ERP or mySAP Business Suite to re-license and re-implement the applications, which can cost customers significant amounts of time and money. “Oracle has evolved customers with us for nearly three decades across multiple generations of technology,” said Charles Phillips, president, Oracle. “94% of Oracle E-Business Suite customers are running on the latest applications - Release 11i. SAP, however, seems to be requiring customers to re-license their applications to upgrade to SAP’s latest technology. Only 6% of SAP’s customers have upgraded to mySAP ERP, according to a leading analyst firm. Now they have a low cost alternative to stop paying for upgrades and get OFF SAP.”

Mmm…. I’m not convinced this will be enough to lure SAP customers away. Whatever the case, if you’re considering migrating either way, now would probably be a good time to do it.

Friday, June 10, 2005

TimesTen acquired by Oracle

Another acquisition by Oracle!! Here, they’ve announced the purchase of TimesTen, Inc., a leading provider of real-time data management software, to extend Oracle Database and Oracle Fusion Middleware.

An article entitled Oracle adds to database portfolio with TimesTen by Martin LaMonica, has a very good write up. It quotes Andrew Mendelsohn, Senior VP of Oracle Database Server Technologies as saying:

By buying the company, Oracle gains tools for storing data and transactions in a server computer’s memory, rather than on disk. That in-memory data storage and caching capability provides tools coveted by Oracle’s high-end customers with demanding data-processing jobs.

Looks like the poll I ran the other day on Oracle over extending itself is rather timely. Time for another one!!

Monday, June 06, 2005

Is Oracle spreading itself too thin?

I came across an article by Edmon Begoli at ITtoolbox entitled Oracle is Spreading Itself Too Thin. The conclusion of the article states:

I am afraid that Oracle will find itself in a position where their market share will just shrink due to their over-reaching product line. In their core competencies they will find DB2 and open source databases catching up with them, and taking away the data base space, and in the other areas they will have hard time keeping up with a more focused competition (Novell, IBM, Microsoft, SAP).

Certainly, Oracle is going to have its hands full with Project Fusion over the next couple of years so they will to have to ensure there is a strategy in place to maintain and build their competitive advantage. What do you think? I’d be interested to hear your comments and have your votes in the poll.

Wednesday, June 01, 2005

Oracle commmences integration of Retek into Fusion Architecture

In an article entitled Oracle-Retek Integration Begins Techweb reports:

Oracle Corp. on Tuesday said it has completed the first product integration between itself and retail software maker Retek Inc., which Oracle acquired in April.

The first integration involved Oracle Portal providing a single sign-on and common user interface for Retek systems. Retek’s retail software includes merchandise management, supply chain execution, store and multi-channel retailing and customer-relationship management.

“Our teams are committed to making rapid progress in integrating the Oracle-Retek solutions,” Charles Phillips, president of Oracle, said in a statement.

Oracle, based in Redwood City, Calif., and Retek demonstrated the companies’ combined software at the recent Retail Systems 2005 Conference and Exposition in Chicago.

Project Fusion at Peoplesoft Planet

The Oracle and Peoplesoft planet is an informative site I came across the other day.

The site has 5 useful sections, namely: -

1. About Peoplesoft - includes a Q&A
2. Tools and Training
3. Consulting
4. Jobs
5. Other Links

They also have a page on Project Fusion which has their opinions as to how Oracle can make Project Fusion a success. The main points look something like this: -

• Keep or enhance the PeopleSoft GUI
• Keep it simple
• Three letters: A S P (Application Service Provider)
• Security Integration is key
• Create unbeatable integration
• Drop the price