Oracle OpenWorld closed on Wednesday with CEO Larry Ellison
lifting the covers of the firm's next-generation Fusion
applications, but finding the show stolen by Arnold
Schwarzenegger.
The Fusion applications are the result of a four-year project to
develop a next-generation suite of software that will act as a
unified upgrade for users of Siebel, PeopleSoft, JD Edwards and the
other applications firms that Oracle has acquired, as well as its
home-grown eBusiness Suite.
"It is a big project and we have been working on it for a long
time," said Ellison. "Fusion applications are brand new. They are
completely architected around a service oriented architecture.
Fusion is the only suite of applications built on standards-based
middleware. Siebel wasn't, eBusiness Suite wasn't, SAP isn't."
But while the firm ran a demo of the new apps on stage at the
OpenWorld conference and Ellison declared them to be "code
complete", there was no word on a general release date other than a
vague "next year".
The first release will not have all the functionality of the
eBusinessSuite, with manufacturing being absent, for example. But
there will be new pieces of functionality, such as talent
management. There are seven Fusion applications in version one:
financial management, human capital management, sales and marketing
management, supply chain management, project portfolio, procurement
management, and governance, risk and compliance.
Ellison said he did not expect all existing applications
customers to move up onto Fusion and repeated his commitment to
continue to support current release of the installed products.
"We recognise that our customers have an enormous investment in
and commitment to technologies like Siebel and PeopleSoft and JD
Edwards. We will remain committed to them for the next decade and
beyond that," he said. "We spend $3bn a year on R&D. We can
afford to maintain the software you are running today, but also
develop the software that you may want to run tomorrow."
While Fusion was intended as the star highlight of Ellison's
conference closing keynote, the limelight had to be shared with
California governor Arnold Schwarzenneger, who turned up mid-way
through the presentation to talk up the US technology industry. In
particular, he gave his blessing to the proposed Oracle takeover of
Sun Microsystems, calling it "a new partnership" between "two great
California success stories, two of the world's great technology
giants".