FROM THE ISV RESOURCE CENTRE TEAM...
We extend a warm welcome to all new members who have joined us over the past few months and look forward to welcoming more in the months ahead. Please pass this newsletter and details about the ISV Resource Centre to any of your colleagues and encourage them to sign up and support us. Please make a point of visiting the portal and provide feedback.
As reported in the last Newsletter, the Oracle Partner Specialised Program is an important step forward for Oracle partners and ISVs. The focus of the new program is on specialisation, giving ISVs and partners the opportunity to differentiate and gain competitive edge in the marketplace. Specialisation is achieved through competency development, expertise and proven business results. This ensures specialised partners are recognised by Oracle and preferred by customers. There are four levels - Remarketer, Silver, Gold and Platinum. At the Remarketer level, you can sell Standard Edition licenses for Oracle Database, Application Server, WebLogic and a few other products. A similar product set but with more marketing support is available to partners at the Silver level while Gold provides access to all of Oracle's technology products and the ability to earn Specialisations. The highest level is Platinum which builds on Gold by adding greater marketing and technical support. There is no fee to join the Remarketer level. Oracle is also providing a promotional discount for those wishing to migrate to the new program before the end of February. For further information about Oracle Partner Specialised, please click here...
In another important step forward, Oracle has finalised its acquisition of Sun (see News below). This opens up further opportunities for ISVs and systems integrators to extend market reach as Oracle brings the various technologies and customer groups together. Grey Matter is already extending its Oracle customer base through increased contact with those deploying Sun hardware and in a similar way, ISVs will be able to address a wider audience as they become more aware of the mechanics of a combined Sun and Oracle environment. Licensing is an area that can cause confusion, especially where it involves Sun's virtual technologies. If your customers are deploying your applications on Sun and you need advice, Grey Matter would be happy to assist by recommending an appropriate licensing solution. Please contact me.
Can you help?
Are you a developer working with Oracle technology or an Oracle database expert with relevant knowledge and experience you can share? If so, we would like to hear from you. Please contact me if you're able to contribute articles, a case study or can help in any other way.
NEWS
February 15th: Latest release of Oracle Database Lite now available
Oracle has announced availability of the latest release of Oracle Database Lite, a comprehensive solution for developing, deploying and managing applications for mobile and embedded environments. With Oracle Database Lite, mobile users gain continuous access to data unconstrained by mobile network bandwidth and coverage, allowing them to access enterprise data even in the absence of a network connection. The new release provides the ability to bi-directionally synchronise data between the open source SQLite database and Oracle Database. This release also provides centralised user and device provisioning and management of SQLite-based mobile applications, allowing disconnected users to have an experience virtually identical to users who are connected. Click here to read the press release...
February 8th: Gartner positions Oracle in Leaders Quadrant for Data Integration
Gartner’s Magic Quadrant for Data Integration Tools positions Oracle in the Leaders Quadrant. According to Gartner, “Leaders in the data integration tools market are front runners in the convergence of single-purpose tools into an offering that supports a range of data delivery styles.” Click here to read the press release...
February 3rd: Oracle positioned in Leaders Quadrant in most recent Business Intelligence Platforms Magic Quadrant
Gartner’s 2010 Magic Quadrant for Business Intelligence Platforms positions Oracle in the Leaders Quadrant. Gartner Magic Quadrants position vendors within a particular market segment based on their completeness of vision and their ability to execute on that vision. Click here to read the press release...
January 27th: Oracle completes acquisition of Sun
Oracle Corporation has completed its acquisition of Sun Microsystems, Inc. Combination of the local entities worldwide will proceed in accordance with local laws. Click here to read the press release...
THIRD PARTY TOOLS
Embarcadero RAD Studio 2010 supports Oracle databases and .NET
Embarcadero RAD Studio 2010 is a powerful development suite for building GUI intensive, data driven applications for both native Windows and .NET environments. While not specifically designed to work with Oracle databases, the suite includes several tools that work with Oracle. These include Delphi, C++Builder and Delphi Prism, an IDE for building .NET applications. It is available in three editions; Professional, Enterprise and Architect.
The Professional edition is designed for building native Windows, .NET and touch screen applications with (or without) embedded and local database persistence. This edition includes Delphi, C++Builder and Delphi Prism. The Enterprise edition is designed for building client-server, multi-tier and Web based applications for native Windows and .NET. It offers seamless connectivity with a variety of database servers and enterprise data sources, expanded UML modeling and a comprehensive tool set for delivering quality applications. It includes everything in the Professional edition, plus additional features for building client-server and multi-tier database and Web applications. It includes database server connectivity to Oracle, DB2, InterBase, Blackfish SQL, Firebird, MySQL, Microsoft SQL Server, Informix and Sybase.
The Architect edition is designed for building data intensive client-server GUI and Web applications for use with enterprise database systems. This edition combines data driven, rapid application development for native Windows and .NET with rich visual data modeling to help developers understand, design and get the most value out of enterprise databases and data structures. It includes everything in the Enterprise edition, plus powerful database modeling and design capabilities. This is the edition that will probably interest most Oracle developers because it includes tools to reverse engineer, analyse and optimise database systems. It includes tools to generate database code from models and various tools for managing the data tier. For further information, please call Grey Matter on 01364 654100.
EVENTS
Oracle ISV Executive Club
Following the success of last November’s event, Oracle invites you to attend the second meeting of the Oracle ISV Executive Club on 18th March 2010 commencing 17:00h at Charlotte Street Hotel, London, W1T 1RJ. The format of the evening will comprise a keynote presentation from Oracle Corporation’s Vice President of Platform Products, followed by a networking reception to enable you to network with other ISV executives, as well as engaging one-to-one with a number of Oracle Experts who can answer your questions and offer advice on how to expand your business. Sanjay Sinha, Vice President, Platform Products, Oracle Corporation, is once again flying in from the US to present at this key event. To register for this event please click here...
Oracle partner events
Oracle Partner Technology Centre (PTC) events
Events are held regularly at Oracle's PTC facility, Hatfield.
Oracle Open Events
2010 Feb 23: Oracle Cloud Computing Forum. Royal Opera House, Bow Street, London
Attend this full-day event to hear Oracle experts clarify how organisations can take advantage of enterprise cloud computing. This will help you develop your organisation’s own cloud strategy and roadmap. You’ll see real world solutions in action and learn how Oracle is helping enterprises achieve breakthrough agility, quality of service and efficiency while controlling security, compliance and cost. The event will demonstrate how IT can become a private cloud service provider for your users. It will explain how to evolve existing enterprise architectures to a cloud model and how to leverage public clouds from providers like Amazon Web Services For further information and to register, please click here...
2010 Sept 19 - 23: Oracle OpenWorld 2010. San Francisco, USA
Oracle OpenWorld 2010 will take place September 19 - 23, in San Francisco at the Moscone Center. As usual, there will be thousands of sessions and hundreds of exhibits and demos. There is no better place to learn how to optimise your existing systems, get an inside view on upcoming technology breakthroughs and meet with the strategists and developers responsible for the products and services that help you get better results for your company. For further information, please click here...
UK Oracle User Group events
These events are generally for UKOUG members only. A schedule is provided below but please click here... for further details.
MANAGED EVALUATIONS PROGRAM
Is your interest in Oracle related to a requirement to complete a formal, managed evaluation or perhaps a development and deployment project? If so, the articles, tutorials and downloads provided by the Resource Centre will assist with this. In addition, we can allocate an 'account manager' to help manage the provision of the resources you need. This could involve answering questions, pointing you in the right direction or helping to enlist assistance from Oracle or third parties. If you have a serious Oracle requirement or would like to find out more, please contact me.
Regards
Graham Keitch