Larry Ellison used the giant Oracle OpenWorld user show
in San Francisco last week to lay out his company's strategy to
integrate all the products it has acquired during a 12 month buying
spree.
The Oracle chief executive reiterated his company's pledge to
provide lifetime support for PeopleSoft, JD Edwards, Retek and
Siebel users and spelt out the Project Fusion middleware
integration strategy.
"Open standards are extremely important to us," he said. "If you
build middleware on open standards [users] can plug in other
middleware. You should be free to use whatever Java engine you
choose and pick middleware components based on price, security or
performance [criteria]."
The promise was generally well received by PeopleSoft, JD
Edwards and Retek users at the show, but there was some unease
among users of the software giant's own E-Business suite software
that the focus on integrating new products could divert attention
from their requirements.
Nigel Montgomery, an analyst at AMR Research, said, "Oracle has
spent so much time placating PeopleSoft, JD Edwards and Retek
customers, that it could be distancing itself from E-Business suite
users."
Ronan Miles, chairman of the UK Oracle User Group said the
target to deliver Project Fusion by 2008, was ambitious. "Blending
Fusion with four [enterprise] applications is mind-boggling. It is
a huge effort." The US-based Oracle Applications User Group said it
wanted more detail about the costs of the company's lifetime
support promise before passing judgment.
Gartner analysts Simon Hayward and Lee Geishecker said, "While
the announcement of Oracle's intentions is welcome, the reality
will be seen in its execution. CustomersÉ should require
implementation details and not rely on aspirations to openness and
standardisation."
Oracle sets out Fusion >>