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 previously, 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. For further information about Oracle Partner Specialised, click here...
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
June 23rd: Oracle Application Express Release 4.0 now available
To further streamline the development of database-centric Web applications, Oracle has introduced Oracle Application Express Release 4.0. This latest release helps reduce the time and complexity of building Web 2.0 applications and reports. Oracle Application Express is included at no additional cost with all editions and releases of Oracle Database 11g. It is available for download from the Oracle Technology Network (OTN). To read the press release, click here...
June 9th: Oracle Fusion Middleware delivers best dual processor result for Intel Xeon x7560 platform
Oracle WebLogic Server 11g, a component of Oracle Fusion Middleware 11g, together with Oracle Oracle Database 11g and Oracle Enterprise Linux running on a Dell PowerEdge R810 rack server, achieved a best-in-class, dual processor result for the Intel Xeon x7560 platform and the best performance per processor of any result ever published with the SPECjAppServer2004 benchmark. This achievement adds to Oracle WebLogic Server’s current SPECjAppServer2004 benchmark records including world record results in multi-node, dual-node and single-node categories; the highest performance ever achieved running a clustered database and the highest performance per core of any result ever published. To read the press release, click here...
April 29th: Oracle delivers new training resources for Sun and Oracle technologies
Delivering on its promise to quickly integrate the Sun partner community and provide further opportunities for them to grow and profit with Oracle, the Oracle PartnerNetwork (OPN) has expanded its partner enablement resources to include new training resources and specialisations for core Sun and Oracle technologies. To read the press release, click here...
April 22nd: Partners embrace Oracle Enterprise Manager 11g
In conjunction with the launch of Oracle Enterprise Manager 11g, Oracle has announced new Oracle PartnerNetwork (OPN) resources and partner-driven plug-ins and connectors for Oracle Enterprise Manager. The new OPN Oracle Enterprise Manager Ops Center Knowledge Zone allows partners to quickly access the tools, knowledge and community insight they need to better develop, implement and sell Oracle Enterprise Manager-based solutions. The resources will also enable them to differentiate those services and offerings in the marketplace. To read the press release, click here...
April 7th: Oracle announces Oracle Business Intelligence 11g
The new Oracle Business Intelligence 11g release provides the industry’s only unified environment for accessing and analysing data that resides in relational, OLAP and XML data sources. 11g enriches the end user experience with a new integrated scorecard application and innovations in enterprise reporting, visualisation, search and collaboration. It also enhances performance, scalability and security through deeper integration with Oracle Enterprise Manager 11g and other components of Oracle Fusion Middleware. To read the press release, click here...
THIRD PARTY TOOLS
Quest Toad Extension for Visual Studio 2010
This time last year, Microsoft announced that the .NET Framework Data Provider for Oracle would be removed from the ADO.NET roadmap. This made sense given that a number of third parties and Oracle themselves, were already providing high performance tools to connect Oracle Database to the Microsoft Visual Studio development environment. Over the past few years, Grey Matter has helped spread the word about a number of free Oracle tools that bring these two worlds together. These include Oracle's own data provider for .NET (ODP.NET), which features optimised ADO.NET data access to the Oracle database and allows you to take advantage of advanced Oracle functionality, including Real Application Clusters, XML DB and advanced security. Oracle's provider can be used with the latest .NET Framework 4 version - and you can download your copy of ODP.NET here...
There are also third party tools such as those available from Quest Software that provide additional functionality. Earlier this year, Quest released Toad Extension for Visual Studio 2010, having developed the solution under the code name 'ProjectFuze'. Toad Extension is more than just a data provider or connector. It provides integration with the application lifecycle management (ALM) tools that are part of Visual Studio Team Foundation Server (TFS). This allows Oracle developers to participate fully in the collaborative ALM processes that help ensure quality and consistency across the project landscape. You will need the Premium or Ultimate editions of Visual Studio for this, as well as Oracle Client or Oracle Instant Client 10g or later. The Quest product also requires Oracle Database 9.2 or later.
Toad Extension allows you to import Oracle schemas into a Visual Studio project. You can perform Oracle change management to synchronise and track application and database code. Keeping the application code and the database schema synchronised would otherwise be a constant challenge involving risk and excessive documentation. Now, this can be done offline while using TFS to track and handle versioning as well as compare and merge schema changes. This provides developers with insight into how projects will be affected as a consequence of changes made to offline Oracle schema (when refactoring, for instance). Toad Extensions and TFS also allow you to generate test data for unit testing with your Oracle databases. You can automate daily builds to ensure that Oracle and application development is always synchronised.
Grey Matter maintains an on-going interest in assisting developers looking for the best tools to support their application and database development projects and has teamed up with Quest to offer an exclusive 20% discount on Toad Extension for Visual Studio. This special offer is available ONLY through Grey Matter and runs until September 30th, 2010. For further information about this offer and Quest, Oracle and Microsoft development tools in general, please call 01364 654100 or click here...
EVENTS
Although the holiday season is fast approaching, events continue to be held during the summer months so we have provided a few links below for you to check.
Oracle Partner workshops and events are listed here...
UK Oracle User Group events are listed here...
2010 Sept 19th - 23rd: 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...
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