Under the Applications Unlimited program, Oracle has committed to develop the applications even after the arrival of its Fusion applications in 2008 or thereabouts, and beyond the previously announced 2013 deadline.
The company now promises continued new releases, which will include new functionality not just maintenance updates, greater product roadmap visibility based on customer feedback, dedicated development teams, and no forced upgrades.
Explaining the decision Jesper Anderson, SVP of Applications Strategy said: There are customers who are big or have complex environments, who love their applications and cannot see why they should change. They have spent a lot on upgrading to new versions and want to reap the benefit. [For them] 2013 feels too early and they felt it was important to get some insurance. The compromise Oracle has made is to commit to the future of the applications, he said.
The company hopes that the benefits of the new SOA architecture and Fusion applications will entice the 30,000-strong customer base to move over but is willing to wait and allow them to do so at their own pace.
We are confident that Fusion applications will be so compelling and cost effective and easy to use, that they will want to go there, but in their own time, said Anderson.
The commitment is positive and could further unleash pent-up spending as customer confidence in Oracle grows. When Oracle released its quarterly results in March, total new application license revenue was up a whopping 77% to $269m, suggesting a return to form for this unit, which has been surrounded by uncertainties due to Oracle’s acquisitions and the weight of its Fusion plans.
Oracle is being up front about the program, which is a welcome and positive offering, and is as transparent as any long term commitment can be. Support and development for each product will continue as long as the business remains viable, which is the same stance that SSA Global has taken with its similar and much lauded commitment never to sunset viable products.
Naturally, Oracle will not seek to break into new industry sectors with the older applications, that will be the province of the Fusion applications. It will concentrate on their core competencies and cater to their strengths explained Anderson.
Where an acquired vendor has a small interest in a particular vertical, such as PeopleSoft’s manufacturing business for example, and Oracle has a better offering, it will not develop the original application significantly but will offer up an Oracle alternative. Where the application has strength, such as PeopleSoft’s HCM applications, development will storm ahead.
The program is more than a marketing campaign. In terms of Oracle’s operational set-up, it is moving towards general manger models for the product lines which will have profit and loss responsibilities and ensure that Oracle works closely with the customer base. The product groups will operate as semi-autonomous units within Oracle while maintaining tight links with other application development groups.
Along with the Applications Unlimited program Oracle announced its roadmap for certifying Oracle’s Siebel business application and analytic offerings with Oracle Fusion Middleware, following roadmaps and certification for the PeopleSoft and JD Edwards’s applications.
Siebel 7.8 certification covers several middleware components including Oracle’s Containers for Java, Java Messaging Services, Portal, Enterprise Service Bus, BPEL Process Manager and Identity Management. It is slated for completion during the second half of 2006. Fusion Middleware’s Business Analytics Technology is already certified to work with Siebel 7.8.
Siebel 8.0 is expected to be certified for these and other technologies including Oracle Enterprise Manager, Oracle JDeveloper and Oracle Secure Search and certification of Siebel 8.0 with Fusion Middleware should be concurrent with the availability of Siebel 8.0.
According to Oracle’s Chief Strategy Officer for Oracle Fusion Middleware, Vijay Tella: This is a significant milestone because the announcement [has been] done after we have inspected the work and have a good understanding of what it takes to finish it. When Siebel came on board, we had to do a lot of homework to understand the interfaces.
Having put the work in it is confident that it will deliver the certification during the second half of the year. With PeopleSoft and JD Edwards it took eight to ten months from design to release, so we expect the same path for Siebel. We are far enough down that we are very comfortable saying the second half of this year, said Tella.
The move to certify the PeopleSoft, JD Edwards and Siebel applications on Oracle Fusion middleware is designed to make it easier for customers adopt a strategy whereby they can implement the middleware in order to support old and new applications simultaneously and incrementally move to Fusion applications if desired.
It makes the transition to Fusion more incremental than customers feared. It can be a gradual transition, promised Anderson, allowing customers to keep their existing PeopleSoft financials applications for example, if they want to, but transition to Fusion applications for something like front office applications if appropriate.
