Oracle Managing Director Brian Mitchell talks about
clustering, unified document stores, hosted applications, and other future directions for the database giant.
What's the difference between Oracle's "clustered database" technology and OS-level clustering, IBM's grid computing, or other clustering technologies?
A: Oracle9i Real Application Clusters (RAC) allows a collection of computers to cooperate in the management of a single set of data. It differs from operating system clustering because OS clusters cannot do this without compromising integrity or transactional throughput. Oracle9i RAC allows clusters of commodity-priced computers to be applied to mainstream commercial computing activities such as running OLTP [online transaction processing] applications or hosting large data warehouses.
An Oracle9i RAC database looks like a single database to the application, and no design modifications to the applications are required. It also allows systems administrators to add or remove hardware from the cluster at runtime without interrupting service to the end-users. Because organisations can now use large numbers of inexpensive computers to perform computing tasks that previously demanded one large, expensive database server, Oracle9i RAC will dramatically change the economics of commercial computing.
What is Oracle's approach to Web services, and how does it differ from IBM's, Sun's, and Microsoft's?
Oracle's strategy for Web services is to provide developers with a comprehensive platform to develop, deploy and manage both simple and complex Web services. Oracle provides broad support for Web services across its entire suite of products-Oracle9i Application Server (Oracle9iAS), Oracle9i JDeveloper and the Oracle E-Business Suite.
Web services alone are not a framework for building complete business applications. Oracle fully supports J2EE as the framework for building business applications in Oracle9i AS. It has implemented Web Services as part of its J2EE framework to allow existing applications to leverage Web services and to provide the necessary security and transaction services around the applications.
Oracle is focusing its Web services efforts in the business process space; that is, where an organisation exposes end-points of business processes to the outside world. Some vendors are promoting the myth that using Web services will provide a cure-all for integration. If applications speak different languages, merely connecting them adds little value. Instead, applications that are built from the ground up to be integrated with each other are the ones that will deliver the business benefits Web services promise.
Oracle seems to have put a lot of faith in XML in its latest release. Why?
Gartner estimates that 70 percent of transactions will use XML in 2003, and with good reason. By providing a common method for identifying data, XML gives businesses a way to communicate in a B2B environment that all parties will understand immediately.
With the XML DB capabilities in Oracle9i Database Release 2, data stored as SQL, the programming language of relational databases, can now seamlessly appear as XML, the programming language of the Internet, and vice versa. This allows users to retain the advantages of XML-structure independence, ease of presentation, transformation, and dynamic access -and gain transparent SQL access while leveraging the strengths of the Oracle9i Database as a repository for XML content.
Australian users in particular have been criticising Oracle for pressuring customers to switch from user-based pricing to more expensive processor-based licensing. What is the reasoning behind this move?
In January 2000, Oracle moved to named-user and processor licensing. This move simplified the licensing process for clients and provides them with a choice-they can license the database by processor, or they can license the database by the number of named users accessing it. In the majority of cases, clients are choosing to license by processor because it is simpler to manage and measure, and supports future growth more easily. It often makes more economical sense to license by processor rather than named-user. QAt a recent conference CEO Larry Ellison announced that the company is trying to build better relationships with customers. How does this affect local operations?
We are increasing the involvement of Oracle's senior executives with customers in order to provide them with a more direct link to development. As a result, a larger percentage of our resources are focused on helping customers achieve business success with their Oracle solution. To this end we continue to be heavily involved with the local Oracle users groups, working with them on such initiatives as product educationals, upgrade workshops, and encouraging clients to share their experiences with other Oracle end-users. Some of our Australian customers are part of Oracle's Customer Advisory Board (CAB). This is a forum where we work with customers globally to gain their feedback and input on implementation methodologies, product performance and future development. We strongly recommend to our clients and prospective clients that every implementation of the Oracle E-Business Suite includes an Oracle representative because no one knows our product better than us. In addition, each major implementation has an Oracle senior executive as its executive sponsor. This provides a direct, interactive channel between the client and senior Oracle management, both in Australian and at our headquarters in Redwood Shores. QOracle is currently promoting 9i suite as a more secure and stable alternative to Microsoft Exchange Server. How does this work?
Oracle9i Application Server (Oracle9iAS) Unified Messaging uses Oracle9i as a single message store for voicemail, e-mail, and fax messages. Because it is built on the Oracle9i Database, it takes advantage of Oracle's core competencies in providing access to, storing, and managing all types of information. It delivers the full power of Oracle9i's multithreaded database to provide parallel processing, high availability, and rapid response time for thousands of simultaneous users. Using the Oracle9iAS Unified Messaging message store as a foundation, it provides delivery, telephone processing, wireless notification, browser-based clients (both web and wireless), and administration utilities. Oracle9iAS Unified Messaging also leverages the more than 25 years of experience Oracle has, providing high levels of security to government and private industry. Oracle, of any major software vendor, offers the most widely tested security software with 14 international security evaluations. Microsoft SQL Server 2000 has only one. QAre claims such as "Can't break it, can't break in" realistic? Surely Oracle software has its share of bugs and security flaws?
Oracle has been conducting security evaluations for ten years and has the only security technology strong enough to receive 14 top security evaluations. This is because security is a top consideration in every aspect of the development lifecycle. Each new database release builds on prior functionality-the result is 25 years of high level security experience built into one product. Oracle9i Database addresses security vulnerabilities by securing transmitted data, encrypting sensitive information, restricting user access at the row level, and providing a single point of entry to all authorised applications. When software security flaws are discovered, Oracle responds as quickly as possible with patches and work-arounds in order to help protect information secured by customers in Oracle-based information systems.
What hosted services is Oracle offering to Australian companies? Are any of these suited to SMEs? Do you expect this to be a big growth area?
In Australia, we have two offerings-Oracle E-Business Suite Outsourcing and Oracle Technology Outsourcing. With each, Oracle is offering to take care of the administration and maintenance of Oracle software for Australian companies either at Oracle or on their own premises. At Oracle, we believe that "software as a service" is the way of the future. Implementing, maintaining, managing, and upgrading software has been a mundane and expensive task, and one that is not part of most companies' core business. Finding, training and retaining IT staff is both costly and time-consuming and a large percentage of these workers are often relegated to routine tasks. The same lack of resources also slows the deployment of new projects, which delays expected productivity and business process gains associated with the projects. Finally, the inherent difficulties associated with traditional support models results in greater downtime, which can have a major impact on profits. The payoffs of having software delivered as a service are huge and immediate-faster closing of monthly accounting statements; reductions in IT management costs; shorter deployments; problems proactively solved without the customer's knowledge; easy upgrade and release management; and faster resolution time for known service issues, to name a few.
What do you say to claims that the initial release of the 11i Business Suite was difficult to install and integrate?
It's true that any major release of software, particularly of the scale and magnitude of an integrated suite of applications like 11i, will have some teething problems. Oracle 11i was not only a significant functional development, it was a major architectural change. However, these challenges are well and truly behind us. In fact, in a recent report by a major research company and the Oracle Applications User Group, 75 percent of users of 11.5.6 and 11.5.7 stated that 11i functionality has greatly enhanced their software environment to the benefit of business requirements. They also recommended that businesses considering a brand new 11i implementation should be able to proceed with little risk. The current customer momentum around the product is very exciting. The clients who are either live or in the process of implementing extend across a very diverse customer base that covers everything from finance to manufacturing to the public sector. Locally, we are seeing a lot of interest from clients wanting to upgrade to 11i.
What innovations does this Suite bring to the business applications space?
Probably the most profound innovation is that the applications in the Oracle E-Business Suite are built on a unified information architecture that consolidates data from Oracle and non-Oracle applications and allows a consistent definition of customers, suppliers, partners, and employees across the entire enterprise. The result is a suite of applications that can provide current performance metrics, financial ratios, profit and loss summaries, and other types of information that roll up across all departments, products, and geographies. With the E-Business Suite, Oracle has defined a set of proven business flows designed to dramatically reduce the complexity, time, and cost associated with large-scale implementations. Packaged with rapid implementation services, support, education, and software, these standard implementations give customers a path to achieve fast business benefits. QIs Oracle now directly taking on Siebel and other vendors in the CRM space? As a relative newcomer in this field, what can Oracle offer?
At the end of the day, CRM can only really succeed if it's integrated with the rest of the enterprise-front office, back office, across departments, and across the business' interaction channels. Because Oracle CRM is part of a more complete suite of applications, the costs and troubles of integrating it with the rest of the organisation are significantly lower. Because of this, Australian customers, especially in the mid-market space, are increasingly seeing the immense value of Oracle's offering. In addition, because our CRM applications, as part of the Oracle E-Business Suite, are built on the concept of a single customer model, clients are able to retain all customer information in one repository, thereby moving away from an inefficient model of fragmented customer data.
About Oracle Oracle Corporation is a leading vendor of databases and other enterprise software, with wordwide revenues of more than US$10.8 billion. The company offers its database tools and application products, along with related consulting, education, and support services.
