OracleAppsBlog

Project Fusion

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

Tuesday, April 26, 2005

Software 2005 Conference - more on Project Fusion?

The Software 2005 conference kicks off today at the Santa Clara Convention Center in California. I understand Charles Phillips, Oracle’s President, will be speaking there so hopefully we’ll get to hear more on Project Fusion, Oracle’s effort to merge the JD Edwards, Peoplesoft and Oracle EBS Software. 

According to the organiser’s, Sandhill, this event is the largest conference for software executives. They also state that the event is a vendor-neutral forum where all software business leaders could candidly debate strategic issues, share ideas and opinions - all for the common good of the industry. At the conference Industry leaders will share their perspectives on the building blocks of an organization’s lifecycle - from funding to launch to growth to liquidity. Attendees will gain a year’s worth of knowledge under one roof in just two days.

I’ve mailed a couple of speakers and attendees to see if we can get the low down on Charles Phillips speech as well as some pics of the conference. In the mean time I’ve listed below the Keynotes, Speakers, Moderators, Panelists and provided links to other blog posts on the conference: -

Keynotes

• Scott Cook, Chairman Executive Committee, Intuit
• Jim Goodnight, Chairman & CEO, SAS
• Scott Kriens, Chairman & CEO, Juniper Networks
• Roger McNamee, Co-founder and general partner of Integral Capital Partners, Silver Lake Partners, and Elevation Partners
• Charles Phillips, President, Oracle
• S. Ramadorai, Managing Director, Tata Consultancy Services
• Shane Robison, Executive Vice President and Chief Strategy and Technology Officer, Hewlett-Packard Company

You’ll find Executive Biographies for each of these speakers on the conference site. I quoted Charles Phillips Biography as it’s the first time I’ve read it and have to say it’s quite impressive:

Charles Phillips is President of Oracle Corporation and a member of the Board of Directors. He is responsible for global field operations including consulting, marketing, sales, alliances and channels, and customer programs, as well as corporate strategy. Prior to joining Oracle, Mr. Phillips was a Managing Director with Morgan Stanley in its technology group. Prior to his career on Wall Street, Mr. Phillips was a Captain in the United States Marine Corps. Mr. Phillips holds a BS in Computer Science from the United States Air Force Academy, an MBA from Hampton University, and a JD from New York Law School and is a member of the bar in Washington D.C. and Georgia. Mr. Phillips is on the boards of Viacom Corporation, Jazz at Lincoln Center in New York City, and New York Law School.

Speakers/Moderators/Panelists

• James Bedard, President & CEO, Aberdeen Group
• Neil Cameron, Chief Information Officer of Unilever PLC and Unilever NV
• Jim Cashman, President & CEO, ANSYS
• Joseph R. Cleveland, Chief Information Officer, Lockheed Martin Corporation, President, Lockheed Martin Enterprise Information Systems
• Mike Greenough, President, Chairman, and Chief Executive Officer, SSA Global™ Executive Management
• Quentin Hardy, Silicon Valley Bureau Chief, Forbes Magazine
• Erik Keller, Principal, Wapiti
• David Kirkpatrick, Technology Editor Fortune
• Amnon Landan, CEO, Mercury Interactive
• John S Leggate, CBE CIO and Group Vice President, BP
• Bernard Liautaud, Chairman & CEO, Business Objects
• Jorge Lopez, Vice President, Gartner G2
• Iain Morris, Senior Vice President, Personal Connectivity Solutions Group, AMD
• Nicholas Negroponte, Professor MIT & Chairman MIT Media Laboratory
• Teresa Peters, Executive Director, Bridges.org
• Bruce Richardson, Senior VP, AMR Research
• John Rymer, Vice-President, Forrester Research
• Brian Turchin, President, Cape Horn Strategies
• Ernest M. von Simson, Senior Partner, Ostriker von Simson
• David Watson, Vice President & CTO, Kaiser Permanente Information Technology

Related Links and Stories

• See you at Software 2005 by Steve Tennant
• Software 2005 by Doug Kaye of IT Conversations and RDS Strategies
• Vendors are from Mars, Buyers are from Venus by Vinnie Mirchandani founder of Deal Architect

Tags
Oracle, Blog, Sandhill, Software 2005, Software, Executive Biographies, Conferences, Project Fusion, Steve Tennant, Doug Kaye, IT Conversations, RDS Strategies, Vinnie Mirchandani, Deal Architect

Thursday, March 17, 2005

Project Fusion - merging the Oracle, J.D. Edwards and Peoplesoft Software

In a press release in January 2005, John Wookey unveiled the combined Oracle and PeopleSoft product roadmap and support plans. This post contains the details of Project Fusion, the new effort to merge the JDE, Peoplesoft and Oracle Software.

According to the press release, Project Fusion is "revolutionary technology that will follow an evolutionary path."

Wookey stated: -

The new “Project Fusion” is a new information age architecture based on industry standards that will be modularized for flexible deployment, optimal performance and easy maintenance. New information-driven applications will incorporate key strengths of all product lines and focus on business process automation, industry-specific capabilities, superior usability, real-time information access and reporting, and a shared data model to provide customers with a single source of truth. The “Project Fusion” architecture will leverage the latest Oracle technology for scalability, availability, security and performance. The new architecture and the results companies will achieve will be truly revolutionary, but the path to the new successor product line will be evolutionary.

What was most interesting to see that there is already a timeline for the rollout of the upcoming releases of the software under discussion as well as an estimated release date for Project Fusion which is as follows: -

• PeopleSoft Enterprise 8.9 (2005)
• Oracle E-Business Suite 12 (2006)
• PeopleSoft Enterprise 9 (2006)
• JD Edwards EnterpriseOne 8.12 (2006)
• Ongoing JD Edwards World enhancements planned to be delivered continuously
• First Project Fusion components, specifically data hubs and transaction bases, (beginning in 2006)
• Initial "Project Fusion" applications (2007)
• "Project Fusion" applications (2008)

The press release also contains support milestones and other useful links. There’s also an interesting page on the Oracle site entitled Strategic Direction and Vision that has more information on Project Fusion. It states that Oracle will continue to support Peoplesoft until 2013 and has the following to say about Project Fusion:

Project Fusion: The Successor Product
In addition to continuing development of the three existing lines, we plan to develop a successor suite of products—which is called ‘Project Fusion’—where we hope to merge the features and functions of the J.D. Edwards products and the PeopleSoft products and the Oracle products together. We’ll build, if you will, a super-set application suite using modern technology.