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Category: Oracle
November 20th, 2009
EU extends deadline for review of Oracle-Sun deal
European regulators have agreed to extend the deadline to review Oracle’s acquisition of Sun, giving Oracle some more time to develop arguments in reply to Europe’s concerns, according to a Reuters report.
Earlier this month, the European Commission filed a Statement of Objections, a first step toward blocking the $7.4 billion deal, over concerns about MySQL. Oracle immediately fired back, issuing a statement that said European regulators have a “profound misunderstanding of both database competition and open source dynamics.” The same day, the U.S. Department of Justice, which has already given its blessing to the deal, pretty much backed Oracle and offered reasons why the U.S. did not see the deal as anti-competitive.
Oracle has said that delays are becoming costly - to the tune of $100 million per month - and are further damaging the economies through job losses. Sun has had to put restructuring plans in place to stay alive while everyone waits for European approval, most recently by laying off 3,000 employees.
Oracle has said that Sun’s customers “universally support this merger and do not benefit from the continued uncertainty and delay.” The company said evidence against the Commission’s position is overwhelming. and that it lacks any credible theory or evidence of competitive harm.
The deadline was extended by one week, to Jan. 27, 2010 from Jan. 19.
Also see: Oracle tries to stop Sun’s bleeding: Is it too late?
November 17th, 2009
FusionOps launches business intelligence, process automation modules
FusionOps, an on-demand enterprise performance management company, will launch a new business intelligence module that may compete with the very ERP vendors it partners with.
If successful, FusionOps could be on to something big, but it has some tricky waters to navigate. FusionOps’ business intelligence tool—called Insight—promises to plug into a company’s enterprise planning system and deliver a return on investment in 12 weeks. FusionOps will first connect to SAP and later Oracle.
“Our initial focus is on SAP. then Oracle,” explained Ram Mohan, CEO and president of FusionOps. “We wanted to be very ERP centric with the ability to derive metrics and get data from ERP systems. We understand SAP data models and are a software partner.”
FusionOps’ business intelligence tools, which will be self-serve, will ride shotgun with a process automation service called Streamline. According to Mohan, the business intelligence module can be integrated and running in hours. FusionOps secret sauce is that it takes read-only access to SAP data documents, uploads them to a data center (hosted by RackSpace) and then provides a dashboard with metrics, reports and key performance indicators.
The company has priced Insight at $100 per user with enterprise data hosting of $3,000 a month per company. There’s minimum of 10 users.
The company also launched an on-demand service dubbed Streamline, which automates procurement and supplier management processes. FusionOps is pitching ROI in 8 to 12 weeks. Streamline is based on functionality needed and subscriptions start at $5,000 a month.
Here’s the pitch:
It’s hard to argue with the return potential with a SaaS-based business intelligence tool, but Mohan acknowledges some potential conflicts. After all, SAP bought Business Objects for business intelligence and Oracle owns Hyperion. Are these two giants really going to let FusionOps poach customers in the long run?
“I see the conflict with BusinessObjects,” said Mohan. “BusinessObjects is a tool that derives a lot of metrics, but it’s cumbersome. Customers can use BusinessObjects, but if they want to see metrics out of the box they can use our service.”
Mohan’s bet: FusionOps’ pitch of metrics in a day will trump a 6 to 9 month implementation. “Our biggest competition is ERP vendors,” said Mohan.
November 13th, 2009
Tech M&A accelerates: Will the No. 2 and No. 3 players sell out or compete?
In this installment of The Big Question podcast TechRepublic’s Jason Hiner and I talk about the evolving tech landscape as mergers and acquisitions accelerate. There are plenty M&A possibilities ahead, but tech industry may wind up with giant vendors and startups and little in between.
Meanwhile, a lot of companies will have to make some big decisions. Will IBM get back into networking hardware? What should companies like Juniper and Brocade do? Will there be enough strong No. 2 players to go around?
The Big Question is a joint production from ZDNet and TechRepublic.
You can play this 25-minute episode from the Flash-based player at the top of the page or:
Stories discussed in this episode:
- HP announces $2.7 billion acquisition of 3Com (ZDNet)
- Cisco vs. HP: 3Com acquisition ups the ante (ZDNet)
- Seven tech industry acquisitions we would sanction (TechRepublic)
- Logitech Buys LifeSize. Now what about Polycom? (ZDNet)
- Google spent about $780 million today (ZDNet)
- EU showdown over Oracle-Sun; Objections seem imminent (ZDNet)
November 9th, 2009
Oracle: EC has 'profound misunderstanding' of database market; DOJ seems to agree
updated: Oracle Corp. schooled the European Commission today on some basic knowledge about open-source technology, lashing out in a statement that the regulatory agency that’s currently holding up Oracle’s acquisition of Sun has revealed its “profound misunderstanding of both database competition and open source dynamics.”
Separately, the U.S. Department of Justice released its own statement, essentially backing Oracle and explaining its reasons for giving the go-ahead for the acquisition and why it felt the deal was not anti-competitive.
The European Commission has expressed concerns over MySQL, delaying the acquisition from moving forward, filing a Statement of Objections today. In a statement responding to the Commission’s filing, Oracle wrote:
Oracle’s acquisition of Sun is essential for competition in the high end server market, for revitalizing Sparc and Solaris and for strengthening the Java development platform. The transaction does not threaten to reduce competition in the slightest, including in the database market. The Commission’s Statement of Objections reveals a profound misunderstanding of both database competition and open source dynamics. It is well understood by those knowledgeable about open source software that because MySQL is open source, it cannot be controlled by anyone. That is the whole point of open source.
The company argued that “the database market is intensely competitive,” with eight strong players and specifically names IBM, Microsoft and Sybase as open source vendors. As for MySQL competing with Oracle products, the company said they are very difference and that there is “no basis in European law for objecting to a merger of two among eight firms selling differentiated products.” In its own statement, the U.S. Department of Justice seemed to agree. It wrote:
The Division concluded, based on the specific facts at issue in the transaction, that consumer harm is unlikely because customers would continue to have choices from a variety of well established and widely accepted database products. The Department also concluded that there is a large community of developers and users of Sun’s open source database with significant expertise in maintaining and improving the software, and who could support a derivative version of it
Sun, which was already a financially-troubled company when Oracle made its acquisition bid, recently laid off 3,000 employees as part of a restructuring plans that stems from delays in regulatory approval. Oracle CEO Larry Ellison recently said that delays are costing about $100 million per month.
Oracle noted that Sun’s customers “universally support this merger and do not benefit from the continued uncertainty and delay.” The company said evidence against the Commission’s position is overwhelming. and that it lacks any credible theory or evidence of competitive harm.
Also see:
November 4th, 2009
EU showdown over Oracle-Sun; Objections seem imminent
Oracle is reportedly gearing up for a formal rejection by European regulators of its bid to acquire Sun Microsystems, according to a report in the Financial Times. An official statement of objection, the first step in blocking the $7.4 billion deal, could come as early as this week - but Oracle seems to be taking a wait-and-see approach before it makes another move.
A source tells the Financial Times that Oracle has refused to offer any concessions to regulators in Europe. Following the official statement, however, Oracle would have the chance to offer concessions or even wage a legal battle, a process that would extend a delay that’s already costing both money and jobs.
The U.S. Department of Justice has already given its blessings to the deal but the EU has expressed concerns over the future of MySQL. Opponents see the open source software as an eventual competitor to Oracle’s core business. But the company has said that it will continue to invest in MySQL.
Sun, which was already a financially-troubled company when Oracle made its acquisition bid, recently laid off 3,000 employees as part of a restructuring plans that stems from delays in regulatory approval. Oracle CEO Larry Ellison recently said that delays are costing about $100 million per month.
Also see:
October 20th, 2009
Sun cuts 3,000 jobs as Oracle takeover twists in regulator limbo
Oracle hasn’t completed its Sun Microsystems acquisition yet, but the restructuring is already underway.
In a regulatory filing, Sun said Tuesday that it will lay off 3,000 workers across the globe. The company added that it had to restructure as it waits for Oracle’s purchase of the company to be approved by regulators—notably the European Union.
The filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission reads (Techmeme):
In light of the delay in the closing of the acquisition of the Company, approved a plan to better align the Company’s resources with its strategic business objectives, including reducing its workforce across the North America, EMEA, APAC and Emerging Markets regions by up to 3,000 employees over the next 12 months (the “Restructuring Plan”). The Company expects to incur total charges ranging from $75 million to $125 million over the next several quarters in connection with the Restructuring Plan, the majority of which relates to cash severance costs and is expected to be incurred in the second and third quarters of the fiscal year ending June 30, 2010.
Also see: Oracle tries to stop Sun’s bleeding: Is it too late?
October 20th, 2009
Art of the software deal can get messy
Software buyers and vendors are increasingly butting heads amid a budget squeeze and increasingly aggressive sales tactics, according to Gartner.
In a series of presentations at the Gartner IT Symposium in Orlando, analysts walked buyers through a few negotiating tactics with the likes of SAP, Microsoft, Oracle, Cisco and a bevy of others. Taken as a whole the presentations provide a good overview of what IT buyers are facing these days.
At a high level, Gartner notes the following:
October 19th, 2009
Teradata unveils cloud strategy, answer for Oracle's Exadata machine
Data warehousing giant Teradata is outlining its cloud computing strategy including an internal cloud service and a public offering via Amazon Web Services. In addition, Teradata is rolling out an appliance it claims will provide a big performance boost.
The announcements, timed for Teradata’s partner conference in Washington D.C., this week highlight how the stakes are being raised in the data warehousing space. Teradata is battling larger foes like Oracle with its Exadata appliance, HP and smaller players such as Netezza.
Teradata is rolling out a bevy of new initiatives, but the most notable one is its cloud strategy. Teradata has a multi-pronged strategy that includes an internal cloud offering for customers—housed in the vendor’s data center—and a public rollout with Amazon Web Services’ Elastic Compute Cloud (EC2).
Here’s the overview:
October 16th, 2009
Oracle's big plan: Double revenue in five years
Oracle capped off its OpenWorld conference with a powwow with analysts where management was described as extremely confident about the company’s prospects.
Although I’m not sure you could ever describe Oracle management as timid—does Larry Ellison allow that?—analyst notes seem to portray executives as exceedingly confident. Judging from the recaps Oracle may be bordering on cocky.
Among the highlights:
Oracle executives said the company tends to more than double revenue over the next five years and grow earnings per share by 20 percent. According to Jeffries analyst Ross MacMillan, Oracle’s new bogey is more than $50 billion sales compared to the $23 billion in annual revenue today. Cowen & Co. analyst Peter Goldmacher notes:
Management commented that it has never been more bullish about its strategy and ability to execute against it and vaguely recommitted to another five year 20% annual earnings growth plan.
How will Oracle get there? More acquisitions of course. And a hardware boost from Sun Microsystems. Oracle did indicate that it would wait 18 months before doing another hardware deal, according to MacMillan.
Systems are a key part of Oracle’s growth plan. CEO Ellison has talked up plans to be like T.J. Watson’s IBM and plans to offer integrated systems to the IT masses. MacMillan said he was convinced. “We thought Oracle made a much more compelling case for the Sun Microsystems acquisition compared to what we had previously heard,” he writes in a research note. “Oracle sees a big opportunity selling hardware/ software system combinations to customers.”
However, profit margins will be hurt by hardware, writes Goldmacher.
Oracle wants its products to be easier to consume. Oracle wants to make its products easier to buy for enterprise customers. Management spent a lot of time talking about CRM on-demand, innovation and providing integrated hardware and software systems to solve needs.
Again, these easier to consume vibe revolves around integrated hardware and software appliances. MacMillan writes that the appliance approach provides a bevy of advantages including:
- Make Oracle’s products easier to consume;
- Provide best in class price/ performance;
- Disrupt competition, particularly IBM;
- And take spend away from lower margin system integration and swap it for higher margin pre-configured systems revenue.
The interesting play here for Oracle is melding its Fusion apps with appliances. J.P. Morgan analyst John DiFucci writes:
Oracle has rewritten PeopleSoft, Seibel, and Oracle’s eBusiness Suite to all run on Oracle Middleware along the same lines that management announced when they first started talking about Fusion Applications. We believe the plan is to provide a fusion application suite with the best of everything Oracle has today, but in an architecture that can be migrated to over time.
But the elephant in the room is maintenance. Goldmacher recaps:
Management was up front and aggressive in its assertion that the maintenance business is very healthy because Oracle customers value the company’s innovation and high quality support offerings. Oracle sees very little reason for anyone to get off maintenance and give up the opportunity to receive product upgrades. Oracle stated that they have not seen any customers transitioning to third party support. This sentiment is not shared by many of the customers we talked to in the course of the user conference.
There are a few nuances here, according to Goldmacher. Customers complained about Oracle’s web-based support, the first line of help, but database customers were more receptive to maintenance due to upgrades and bug fixes. Apps customers question maintenance more and chafe over upgrades. Goldmacher says that the number of Oracle customers leaving maintenance for third party support players like Rimini Street is small, the growth rate of these defections are in the low triple digits.
More on Oracle from OpenWorld:
- Oracle Fusion - a damp squib
- Oracle’s Ellison: Fusion finally coming to fruition
- Oracle’s Fusion Apps finally come out from behind the OpenWorld curtain
- Ellison’s keynote: Linux, Exadata, the Governator and more
- Oracle unveils Exadata 2 [video]
- Oracle OpenWorld 2009 - Social CRM Technology Rears an Actual Head
- Saluting SAP & Oracle Communities
- Dell talks Self-Service IT at Openworld [video]
- Oracle’s integration strategy: Customer trade-offs
- McNealy zings iPhone, laments the PC, claims Sun started open source
- Oracle OpenWorld: Getting down to business
- SAP and Oracle going head to head
- Ellison rips IBM, shows off Sun-Oracle benchmarks, offers $10M prize
- Ellison wants to model new Oracle after T.J. Watson Jr.’s IBM
October 14th, 2009
Ellison's keynote: Linux, Exadata, the Governator and more
Oracle CEO Larry Ellison took the stage for the final keynote at Oracle OpenWorld 2009 today - an afternoon session that followed lunch and got off to a rough start when Infosys CEO Kris Gopalakrishnan (who was scheduled to speak after Ellison) came on stage first and spent 45 minutes delivering a somewhat dry presentation.
It probably didn’t help that attendees were reminded that there’s a big party tonight. The Who’s Roger Daltrey, who will be performing tonight, made a cameo appearance at the beginning of the session to say he was looking forward to seeing everyone later in the evening.
And so, as the show comes down the home stretch and people are anxious to let their hair down a bit tonight, Ellison walked on to the stage and pretty much got right down to business by announcing that he had four things to talk about: a Linux update, information on Exadata 2, a demo of a product support system and a preview of next generation app called Fusion.
First, Linux. Oracle has been in the Linux business for a while now but Ellison said the company was surprised by the interest in Linux. He noted that the Oracle’s virtual machine will run any OS, such as Windows or Solaris and, of course, Oracle Enterprise Linux. What was surprising, he said, were the results of an HP survey which asked customers running Linux under an Oracle database which Linux they were using. About 65 percent said they were using Oracle Enterprise Linux.
Then, we moved on to Exadata 2, Ellison’s love child that brings together the combination of technology from Oracle and Sun and allows him to take jabs at rival IBM. This is one powerful machine, he notes, that runs 16 times faster than IBM. (Jab No. 1) But wait, he said. IBM has challenged that response, saying that it doesn’t run 16 times faster but only SIX times faster.
Long pause. Cheesy grin from Ellison. Laughter and applause from audience.
“They may be right,” Ellison said with a smirk on his face. Maybe Oracle is only 6 times faster. (Jab No. 2)
October 14th, 2009
Oracle unveils Exadata 2 [video]
At Oracle’s OpenWorld conference in San Francisco, CEO Larry Ellison previews the company’s Exadata Version 2 computer. He says the new database computer is designed for online transaction processing and data warehousing. He adds that Exadata 2 can do faster processing at a much lower cost than can its biggest competitor, IBM.
Netezza President and CEO Jim Baum fired back after Ellison called out his company. Baum said in a statement:
Absent from Oracle today was any vision for a future rooted in advanced data analytics. The future of data warehousing isn’t about system vendor consolidation. Organizations want to do more than ‘keep up’ with growing amounts of data. The future is about moving from the data center to the desktop - delivering previously impossibly analytics on massive amounts of data to everyone that needs it. Companies want to learn something. Predict. Adapt as fast possible, without super computers and without great expense or a single massive check to a systems vendor.
October 12th, 2009
McNealy zings iPhone, laments the PC, claims Sun started open source
The media is going to miss Scott McNealy as the head of Sun Microsystems. The guy has always been a reliable source of great quotes about the state of the tech industry and zingers against Sun’s competition. In what was very likely his last big speech as the leader of Sun Microsystems on Sunday night, McNealy gave the audience at Oracle OpenWorld several more McNealy-esque quips on his take of the tech world and Sun’s role in it.
October 12th, 2009
Oracle OpenWorld: Getting down to business
At Oracle OpenWorld, company co-presidents Charles Phillips and Safra Catz kicked off the day’s events with a keynote speech that got right down to business about, well, doing business.
In the opening minutes of the keynote, the two took some time to reflect on what the company has been doing in the past year or so, taking time to highlight the advancements in technology that have been rolled-out not only because of the company’s investment in innovation but also because of the company’s investments over the years in companies that have a cutting-edge technology that could enhance Oracle’s offerings.
October 11th, 2009
Ellison rips IBM, shows off Sun-Oracle benchmarks, offers $10M prize
On Sunday night Larry Ellison took the stage at his annual event, Oracle OpenWorld in San Francisco, and came out swinging like a samurai warrior with a newly-sharpened sword. His main target: IBM.
Ellison (right) told a capacity crowd of thousands of IT professionals that IBM has been running a campaign called “Sunset” in which it has been telling Sun customers that Oracle is going to get out of the hardware business and therefore customers should start moving their software over to IBM servers.
Ellison attacked this idea. “We are not selling the hardware business,” he said. “No part of the hardware business are we selling.”
Then he actually displayed some of IBM’s own ads - a bold and highly unconventional move since it gives IBM free attention - before ripping them to shreds. Without going into the gory details, Ellison basically said IBM deploys more servers than necessary, that IBM servers are power hogs (even though IBM talks a big game about being energy-friendly), and that a Sun-Oracle combination runs circles around IBM in performance.
October 11th, 2009
Scott McNealy names Sun's top 10 tech innovations
In his first big appearance since it was announced this spring that Oracle was going to buy Sun Microsystems, Sun chairman and co-founder Scott McNealy got sentimental on Sunday night in his opening keynote at Oracle OpenWorld in San Francisco.
Although the Oracle-Sun deal hasn’t gone through yet, McNealy sounded a lot like a leader who knew he was making one of his last major speeches as Sun’s chairman. He talked about how much he’s enjoyed innovating in the technology space over the past couple decades and thanked the Sun employees and customers who came along for the ride.
He also threw his weight behind the Oracle deal and tried to reassure Sun customers that an Oracle-Sun pair-up is going to be all rainbows and unicorns.
However, the most interesting part of his presentation was when he named his list of the “Top 10 Innovations from Sun.” Here is the list, copied verbatim from McNealy’s slides:
October 8th, 2009
IBM launches 'pureScale': Front runs Oracle's database attack
IBM on Friday will launch a new database technology dubbed pureScale, which is designed to up the ante in transaction processing. The news comes ahead of Oracle’s OpenWorld powwow next week. Oracle CEO Larry Ellison is expected to take a bevy of shots at IBM’s database capability as it touts integrated Exadata hardware-database systems with its to-be-acquired Sun Microsystems.
Given the Oracle barrage that’s on deck, IBM figured it would front run its database rival a bit.
With its DB2 pureScale on IBM Power Systems technology, Big Blue is taking its database architecture used on its mainframes to the IT masses.
PureScale was designed by IBM’s Toronto software lab and its Power Systems lab in Austin. In a statement, IBM says its architecture allows customers to add and remove processing power by adding servers while only paying for the software they need for peak workloads.
In many respects, IBM’s move is an answer to Oracle’s Exadata effort. Increasingly hardware and databases will be bundled together and optimized for peak horsepower. IBM notes that DB2 pureScale improved productivity by more than 80 percent in a test with 100 Power servers. How? DB2 pureScale cuts the communications back and forth within the system to lower computing power.
DB2 pureScale will be available on Power 550 Express and Power 595 systems in December.
Also see: Ellison wants to model new Oracle after T.J. Watson Jr.’s IBM
October 5th, 2009
Oracle still hardware happy: Interested in buying Brocade
Brocade Communications Systems, which makes networking and storage gear for data centers, has reportedly put itself up for sale and Oracle and HP are among the interested parties.
According to the Wall Street Journal, Brocade is looking at acquisition possibilities. Brocade may not sell out, but is exploring its options.
The fact that HP examining a Brocade purchase isn’t surprising. HP and Cisco are on a collision course and HP CEO Mark Hurd could use Brocade’s portfolio to target more networking hardware (Brocade owns Foundry Networks).
But that fact that Oracle is interested raises a few interested possibilities. Brocade and Sun are partners. If Oracle bought Brocade it would shed any doubt that it was serious about the hardware business. Oracle CEO Larry Ellison has said he wants to provide complete systems, much like T.J. Watson’s IBM did.
While Oracle and HP are interested in Brocade it’s worth pondering IBM’s role too. IBM is also a Brocade partner and may conclude that it needs a hardware play as other vendors notably HP and Cisco are pitching next generation data center architectures. Dell would be another company possibly interested in purchasing Brocade.
Churchill Club audio: Larry Ellison, in Conversation with Ed Zander
- Ellison wants to model new Oracle after T.J. Watson Jr.’s IBM
- Oracle unveils second Exadata machine; Ellison steps up data warehousing push
- Oracle tries to stop Sun’s bleeding: Is it too late?
- HP bolsters networking lineup
- Dell partners with Brocade to compete in data center war
- IBM bolsters Juniper pact; Reseller deal with Cisco
- As the data center turns: IBM gets tight with Juniper, Brocade; Take that Cisco
September 30th, 2009
The month ahead: Can Windows 7 close the Vista flop chapter?
ZDNet correspondent Sumi Das and senior editor Sam Diaz share the early word on the highly anticipated OS set for release in late October. Diaz also previews upcoming conferences, including CTIA, and considers the question where does Web 2.0 go from here?
September 24th, 2009
Churchill Club audio: Larry Ellison, in Conversation with Ed Zander
At a Churchhill Club event, Oracle CEO Larry Ellison talked to former Sun Microsystems President Ed Zander about Oracle’s recent acquisition of Sun Microsystems. Ellison covered a wide range of topics ranging from the economy to IBM and IT demand. Here’s the full audio.
September 23rd, 2009
Ellison wants to model new Oracle after T.J. Watson Jr.'s IBM
At a Churchhill Club event, Oracle CEO Larry Ellison talked to former Sun Microsystems President Ed Zander about Oracle’s recent acquisition of Sun Microsystems. He said he’d like to pattern the new Oracle after T.J. Watson Jr.’s IBM, combining both hardware and software systems.
Ellison said that he wanted Oracle to be Watson’s IBM because that version of Big Blue was the dominant software company relative to the versions run by 
Lou Gerstner and Sam Palmisano. IBM in Watson’s heyday used software to create a hardware giant. Simply put, IBM was the backbone of Corporate America. “IBM was the environment you worked in,” said Ellison. Ellison said Oracle wants to do the same and be the dominant systems environment for enterprises, running airline, banking and telecommunications systems.
It’s an interesting take worth watching as you put the Oracle-Sun deal into perspective. Ellison’s riff on how Sun is a national treasure is a bit of a stretch, but you can see what Oracle’s master plan is.
Larry Dignan is Editor in Chief of ZDNet and Editorial Director of ZDNet sister site TechRepublic. See his full profile and disclosure of his industry affiliations.
For daily updates, follow Larry on Twitter.
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