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WebCenter Suite will provide an open forum for customers to collaborate via mashups, wikis and VoIP.(www.internetnews.com Via Thomson Dialog NewsEdge) Oracle wants a cut of the Web 2.0 action. The software maker will announce Oracle WebCenter Suite, a new feather in its Fusion Middleware cap that uses Web 2.0 software services to help corporate employees better work together. The news, to be unveiled in a keynote by Oracle Senior Vice President Thomas Kurian at the company's OpenWorld show in San Francisco today, comes a day after Oracle said it planned to fortify its service-oriented architecture (SOA) products, database software and acquire MetaSolv. A solution to the siloed applications that aren't aware of each other and don't share content, WebCenter provides a central location that lets users create composite applications, such as enterprise mashups, and leverage wikis, Voice over IP (VoIP) and RSS feeds from their desktops and mobile devices. Oracle hopes WebCenter becomes the intersection for people, processes and information in the workplace, improving productivity at a time when workers often have to jump back and forth between disparate applications. This can be disruptive to the workflow. Software vendors such as Oracle, IBM , Sun Microsystems and Microsoft are increasingly seeing the value of shifting their traditional portal and applications offerings to an integrated platform to reflect the trickle down of Web 2.0 technologies to the enterprise. With WebCenter Suite, Oracle figures to be at the forefront of this change, which Gartner analysts discussed in detail at the research firm's IT symposium earlier this month. The WebCenter Framework includes Java Server Faces (JSF) and Oracle ADF that enables programmers to plant AJAX components, portlets and content into their JSF applications; it will interoperate with standard portals. WebCenter Services offer embeddable Web 2.0 content, collaboration and communication components, including Oracle Content Database, Oracle Secure Enterprise Search, SIP-based VoIP and Instant Messaging Presence Server, discussion forum and a wiki service. WebCenter Studio meanwhile exposes the WebCenter Framework and WebCenter Services to programmers inside Oracle JDeveloper. WebCenter Anywhere lets users connect and work from familiar mobile devices and desktop tools, such as Microsoft Office and Exchange. WebCenter Composer is a browser-based environment for composing and customizing the application user interfaces, business rules and policies, user profiles and preferences and business processes. Finally, WebCenter Spaces is a configurable work environment that enables individuals and groups to better work together. WebCenter Suite, which will also become the default user environment for Oracle Fusion Applications, will be licensed as an option on top of Oracle Application Server Enterprise Edition for $50,000 per CPU. Available in 2006, WebCenter Suite 10g R3 will include the WebCenter Framework, WebCenter Services and the Oracle WebCenter Studio, providing customers SIP-based instant messaging, online presence, threaded discussion and wiki services, as well as Oracle Secure Enterprise Search and a limited-use license of Oracle Content Database. WebCenter Composer and WebCenter Spaces are scheduled to be available in a future release. Kurian also will announce today the company has jazzed up its business intelligence software with Oracle Business Intelligence Suite Enterprise Edition 10g Release 3. The software grabs intelligence from existing applications and data sources and shuttles it across the enterprise to improve business processes. Release 3 has been integrated with Oracle BI Publisher, Oracle BPEL Process Manager, Oracle Portal, Oracle Database 10g OLAP and Oracle Identity Management. The software also "plugs" right into any IT architecture interoperating with Oracle and non-Oracle sources, including the latest releases of IBM DB2, NCR Teradata, and Microsoft SQL Server and SAP Business Information Warehouse Oracle Business Intelligence Suite Enterprise Edition 10g Release 3 will be generally available in the next 12 months. Finally, Oracle expanded its increasingly comfortable relationship with rival IBM; the two will sell and market Oracle applications and Linux software on IBM's System z mainframes. Internet.com Corp. Copyright 2003 Jupitermedia Corp. All rights reserved. Republication and redistribution of Jupitermeida Corp. content is Expressly prohibited without the prior written consent of Jupitermedia Corp.. Jupitermedia Corp., shall not be liable for any errors or delays in the Content, or for any actions taken in reliance thereon. Copyright 2006 Jupitermedia Corp. |