Companies should check
Oracle's
roadmap before investing in BEA products.
The enterprise software company -
which has acquired BEA -
unveiled its roadmap last week, showing
how it was integrating the two firms' technology.
Some BEA products will be replaced with Oracle's own products.
These include some
business
process management
tools in the
AquaLogic
portfolio and the
WebLogic portal internet applications software.
A number of AquaLogic products will no longer be developed. Rob
Hailstone,
software infrastructure practice director at
analyst Butler Group, said: "AquaLogic does not feature much as
one of Oracle's preferred product families."
Oracle will offer maintenance for five years on products which
do not fit in with its strategy. However, experts have warned it is
unlikely to develop the products. This means users need to migrate
to fully supported products.
Massimo Pezzini,
vice-president
and Gartner fellow, urged users of affected products to be
extremely prudent: "We advise customers to avoid strategic
investments in any Oracle and BEA product that will go into
maintenance mode."
Massimo Pezzini expected Oracle to help affected users switch
from non-strategic Oracle products to supported products. However,
Pezzini warned migration from some products could be extremely
difficult.