Welcome to 5 Minute Briefing: Oracle an information resource prepared by Database Trends and Applications Magazine and published in cooperation with the Independent Oracle Users Group (IOUG). To subscribe, click here.

Oracle Throws its Weight Behind Virtualization

At OpenWorld last week, Oracle threw its considerable weight behind the idea of virtualization. At his opening keynote address, company president Charles Philips unveiled Oracle VM, server virtualization software which supports both Oracle and non-Oracle applications. Consisting of the open source Xen hypervisor technology and an integrated Web browser-based management console, Oracle VM provides a graphical interface for creating and managing virtual server pools, running on x86 and x86-64-based systems, across an enterprise. Key Oracle products, including Oracle Database, Oracle Fusion Middleware and Oracle Applications, have already been certified with Oracle VM. "Customers can now optimize resource consolidation by deploying Oracle VM with Oracle Unbreakable Linux, and run the full Oracle software stack - Oracle Database, Oracle Fusion Middleware, Oracle Enterprise Manager and Oracle Applications - all with one worldwide support call," said Oracle's chief corporate architect, Edward Screven, at the time of the announcement

In many ways, with the virtualization announcement, Oracle is going back to the same playbook it used with Linux. In his keynote address closing the conference, Oracle chairman Larry Ellison highlighted inroads Oracle is making in the Linux market against Red Hat, claiming that Oracle already had around 1,500 customers for its “Unbreakable Linux,” with “virtually no selling.” Oracle’s Linux distribution will ship with Oracle VM.

Ellison also provided insight into the development of the next generation of Fusion applications, which have what Ellison described as SOA endpoints embedded in them. Fusion applications are scheduled to begin shipping in the first half of the year, he said, and by the end of the year all new Oracle applications will be based on Fusion technology, Ellison told a standing-room-only audience.

The more than 40,000 people who attended OpenWorld learned about a raft of new product announcements, new Oracle benchmarks in different TPC categories as well as other vendor-developed benchmarks including those from SAP, and new customer wins. They also enjoyed music from Billy Joel, Stevie Nicks, and Mick Fleetwood. For more information on the Oracle VM, visit here.

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Quest Unveils New Version of Tools at Oracle OpenWorld

At Oracle OpenWorld last week, Quest Software introduced new versions of several products that help database professionals work more efficiently. The products include: Toad for Oracle 9.5, Toad Data Modeler 3.0 and Benchmark Factory 5.5. Each product works with Oracle environments to simplify the manual, time-intensive tasks associated with Oracle database design, development, administration, performance and availability. “Our Toad for Oracle 9.5 has a tight integration with our SQL optimizer product. We’ve evolved Toad Data Modeler 3.0 based on customer requests. Benchmark Factory 5.5 now supports Oracle 11g and Microsoft Vista and includes mapping options for SQL Server and Sybase,” Doug Williams, director of product marketing at Quest, told 5 Minute Briefing on the show floor.

Toad for Oracle 9.5 is a comprehensive database development and administration solution that provides users with greater visibility of commonly-used functionality and improved workflow. This new version increases team collaboration and the distribution of development standards, and includes updated database administration features. Toad Data Modeler 3.0, is a cost-effective database modeling and design tool. The newest product components allow for comparison and synchronization between models and databases, (as well as the ability to generate alteration scripts), to facilitate this synchronization. Logical modeling capabilities have also been added, allowing organizations to model to true business requirements. Benchmark Factory 5.5, is a scalability testing tool that stress-tests environments by simulating users and transactions on the database. The newest version supports Oracle 11g and Microsoft Vista, offers enhanced mapping options for SQL Server and Sybase databases, and features an improved Oracle Trace File import process.

“One problem throughout the industry is that we tend to use rapid development and yet ignore modeling," said Michael Ault, the Oracle domain specialist at Quest. That may be fine for the rapid development, but for the users in general, it makes it tough to access the queries that they need to make. Toad Data Modeler enables reverse-engineering so the user has the power of a modeler that can be used easily, said Ault. For more information, go here.

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Gear6 Announces New I/O Performance Levels for CACHEfx Appliance

Gear6 has announced new I/O performance results for large scale network-based caching. The achievements, according to the vendor, demonstrate the ability of centralized storage caching to keep pace with demanding aggregate I/O requirements of massive compute grids for a range of workload profiles. Throughput testing of the CACHEfx appliance achieved “precedent-setting” 872,291 IOPS with an average response time of 0.53 milliseconds and sustained bandwidth of 2.8GB per second. Bandwidth intensive testing achieved a sustained 5GB per second while delivering 162,292 IOPS. These test results provide documentation as to how the CACHEfx appliance can accelerate a wide range of applications in high performance computing environments. The company made the announcement at SCO7 and at Oracle OpenWorld last week.

“The real takeaway from this is not the performance number in and of itself. It is that we enable this level of performance within an existing storage infrastructure,” said Gary Orenstein, vice president of marketing at Gear6. “What we are saying with the Gear6 product is that customers who are using Oracle products in conjunction with NAS and NSF can get an immediate performance boost without having to move, change or reconfigure their infrastructure in any way other than adding a caching appliance.”

CACHEfx appliances attach to the network using standard Gigabit Ethernet or 10 Gigabit Ethernet, and support any NFS-based file system, including clustered file systems. Centralized storage caching extends the capabilities of existing compute clusters and storage systems without requiring changes to applications, file systems, or storage management software. This network centric caching approach delivers performance for existing infrastructure and provides a foundation for next-generation high-performance compute clusters. For more information, go here.

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Solix and gloPlug Announce Plug-And-Play Archive and Test and Development Appliance

Solix Technologies, a provider of enterprise data management solutions and gloPlug, a Network Appliance partner that integrates industry-leading hardware and software solutions providing data intelligence, announced the gloPlug Appliance at Oracle OpenWorld. The gloPlug Appliance is a plug-and-play solution for cloning data from Oracle E-Business Suite applications. The gloPlug Appliance is embedded with modules from the Solix Enterprise Data Management Suite for Oracle E-Business Suite with NetApp ReplicatorX and FlexClone software and NetApp Storage to deliver data management-in-a-box.

“The key idea here is to simplify your test and development process while eliminating the risk of unauthorized access to sensitive data,” Julie Lockner, vice president of sales operations and product marketing at Solix, told 5 Minute Briefing. By incorporating Solix Enterprise Data Management Suite (Solix EDMS) with NetApp ReplicatorX, FlexClone and NetApp storage on the pre-configured gloPlug Appliance, enterprise customers can quickly and easily clone production data, make subsets, mask critical business, and reduce storage footprint prior to releasing it to test and development.

The gloPlug Appliance offers instantaneous cloning of databases, ensures sensitive data is protected throughout the application development process; offers 18 security algorithms that map the appropriate type of masking function to the type of data including encryption/decryption masking, scrambling, nulling and shuffling, works in heterogeneous environments and results in no impact on the production environment during the cloning process. Additionally, when data is masked, application context is taken into consideration said Lockner, noting that is important for masking since in many database applications, the data will sit in multiple tables. “We would make sure that when we mask it in one place, we mask it the exact same way in another place so that we maintain referential integrity of the data.” For more on Solix, go here. For more on gloPlug, go here.

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GoldenGate Version 9.5 Provides Expanded Support for Enterprise Applications

Yesterday, GoldenGate Software, a provider of high availability and real-time data integration solutions, announced the immediate availability of GoldenGate 9.5, enhancing the platform's capabilities for all major enterprise software applications. With yesterday's release, the GoldenGate Transactional Data Management (TDM) platform provides more comprehensive support for packaged enterprise applications including Oracle E-Business Suite, PeopleSoft Enterprise, Siebel, JD Edwards-and SAP, as well as custom-developed applications. GoldenGate solutions address the need for real-time data integration and application high availability in today's increasingly heterogeneous enterprise IT environment.

With GoldenGate 9.5, the platform supports the replication of non-data objects, which decreases the time and effort required to perform database administrative tasks, such as adding users or applying stored procedures to the target database, and the result is minimizing any downtime. According to the vendor, for example, this platform is commonly used during a planned migration or upgrade, in which organizations will experience little or no downtime. With yesterday's release, GoldenGate delivers greater support and flexibility for enterprise software applications, and further expands support for heterogeneous environments, including Microsoft SQL Server 2000 and 2005, Oracle, Sybase, DB2 z/OS, DB2 LUW, HP NonStop and SQL/MX, Enscribe, Ingres and MySQL.

“GoldenGate is a heterogeneous change-data-capture and delivery technology and we do that in real time and 'heterogeneous' is really critical. With this release we continue investing and improving on that front,” Irem Radzik, director of product marketing, GoldenGate, told 5 Minute Briefing. And, by introducing the ability to replicate non-data objects in the database, “we now provide better support for 0-downtime migrations for Oracle applications, including JDEdwards, PeopleSoft, Oracle Financials, so the Oracle applications users can now have continuous availability using GoldenGate products and also the database administrators will have much more ease in doing the administrative tasks and applying any type of stored procedures to the target base." For more information, go here.

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SOA Begins to Penetrate Mainframe Shops

To a large extent, SOA is making it possible to re-purpose mainframe applications and data that were formerly locked away, through a service layer accessible by any and all systems across the network. SOA is enabling mainframe application interoperability. Applications can now be exposed through services to other systems, without even touching the mainframe itself. A new survey conducted by Unisphere Research and sponsored by GoldenGate Software, the leaders in transactional data management solutions, found companies are still in the early stages of expanding the capacity of their current mainframe systems to support SOA. Survey respondents are evenly split over SOA. Just over half either have or are planning for SOA, while 44 percent have no plans or are unaware of such plans within their organizations. About a quarter of the organizations covered in this survey, 23 percent, reported they are currently adopting SOA.

For purposes of this survey, SOA was defined as an environment in which loosely coupled services are developed, deployed, and reused/shared in a managed, orchestrated manner to support processes across the organization. The survey had 431 participants. Respondents’ job titles ranged from application development and project managers (20 percent) to systems administrators (17 percent), analyst/programmers (15 percent), and IT managers, directors and CIOs (13 percent).Unisphere Research, our research arm, conducts proprietary research with leading IT user groups. To read abstracts of these studies, go here. Are you interested in having proprietary research conducted for your company about issues of concern to you? For more information, send an email to Tom@dbta.com.

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Oracle Virtualization Playbook

As our friends at the House of Brick astutely predicted before OpenWorld, Oracle has now made a major thrust into virtualization. And it is following the same playbook it used with operating systems — take an open source product and make it its own. Larry Ellison has been crystal clear about what he sees as the need for consolidation in the enterprise software space. Clearly that concept can be applied to open source as well, in his view. It remains to be seen what will happen with open source development if the most promising products are picked off and, to a degree, captured by the largest commercial software vendors in the world. To follow trends in the industry, subscribe to Database Trends and Applications magazine. Are you interested in having proprietary research conducted for your company about issues of concern to you? For more information, send an email to Tom@dbta.com.

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Save the Date for COLLABORATE 08 – IOUG Forum

It’s never too early to start planning for COLLABORATE 08 - IOUG Forum , the premier customer-driven event for Oracle users, taking place April 13-17 at the Colorado Convention Center in Denver, CO.

Register through the IOUG today to attend educational sessions in six focused user-driven tracks that will empower you to better administrator your company’s data. Tracks include:

• Architecture
  
• Business Intelligence/Warehousing
  
• Database
  
• Development
  
• Middleware
  
• Professional Development

COLLABORATE 08 also provides you with the opportunity to:

• Discover new products, solutions and services
  
• Gain insight from more than 250 solution providers and Oracle executives
  
• Network with more than 7,500 Oracle Professionals like you
  

Get Approval Now to Attend

Download the IOUG Forum training proposal to let your supervisor know why you can’t miss this event. Make sure to complete this and register soon so you can save and use any remaining 2007 training dollars.

Register Now!

For more information on the IOUG Forum or to register now for greatest savings (early bird rate saves you $400), visit the IOUG Forum Web site.

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Hyperion Users: Why You Should Attend COLLABORATE 08

If you’re a Hyperion user or have colleagues that would benefit from Hyperion education, COLLABORATE 08, April 13-17, 2008 in Denver, CO, is the IT training event you will want to attend. Here are four reasons why:

• Learn from nearly 150 Hyperion focused education sessions and access hundreds of other education sessions covering Oracle technology and applications
  
• Gain insight into Oracle’s strategy and direction for Hyperion products
  
• Access more than 250 IT solution providers in the Exhibitor Showcase
  
• Share best practices with the greater Oracle community with more than 7,500 customers in attendance
  
• If you are already a member of the IOUG, you may register here!

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IOUG Oracle Technology Best Practices Booklet Now Available

The IOUG recently published its second annual Oracle Technology Best Practices Booklet. This digest-size “best practices” reference book answers the most common questions of Oracle technologists, and is an exclusive IOUG member benefit.

This issue of technical tips and best practices includes a number of DBA and developer tips, which you will want to refer to time and time again throughout your work days.

If you are a member of the IOUG, you should have received your booklet, along with the quarter four issue of SELECT Journal, in the mail.

And, if you’re not a member of the IOUG, visit www.ioug.org today to join!

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Last Chance to Register for IOUG Oracle Boot Camp

It’s not too late to register for IOUG Oracle Boot Camp, taking place next Friday, November 30 at the Cartier Place Suite Hotel in Ottawa, Ontario! Presented jointly by the IOUG and the Ottawa Oracle Users Group (OOUG), you may choose from one of two full-day sessions that will enhance your knowledge in either Oracle Application Express or Oracle Application Server products.

• Getting Started with Oracle Application Express, presented by Robert Freeman, Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints

Oracle APEX (formally known as HTMLDB) provides a web based development environment that makes the creation of web sites easy to do. APEX comes free with Oracle Database 10g, so if you own an Oracle database license, you are ready to go with web development. While APEX provides a web-able development environment capable of supporting even the most complex applications, it is also the perfect platform for replacing Enterprise level Access applications that seem to pop up out of nowhere.

• Oracle Application Server: End-to-End, presented by Chris Ostrowski, TUSC

The Oracle Application Server is an extremely complex piece of software. Getting a grip on all of the technologies, how they fit together and how they can benefit your organization can be a daunting task. This presentation will de-mystify the Application Server by thoroughly explaining all of its major components and showing you how it can be used effectively in your organization.

Registration includes breakfast, lunch and session handouts.

Register for Getting Started with Oracle Applications Express or Oracle Application Server: End-to-End today!

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Become a Complete Oracle Technology Professional – Join the Independent Oracle Users Group

The Independent Oracle Users Group (IOUG) is a global membership organization that gives more than 20,000 Oracle DBAs, developers, architects, and technical managers the opportunity to enhance their productivity, maximize their investment, and influence the quality, usability, and support of Oracle technology.

By joining the IOUG for only $150, you will receive:

• Discounted registration to COLLABORATE 08, the premier conference for providing peer exchange and expert insights to empower you to better administer your company’s data.
  
• Discounted registration to Regional User Group (RUG) events, which give you the chance to receive Oracle education without having to travel too far from home.
  
• Free Oracle Technology Best Practices Booklet, a digest-size “best practices” reference book answers the most common questions of Oracle technologists.
  
• Free subscription to SELECT Journal, the IOUG’s printed technical journal providing in-depth technical articles written by recognized authorities in Oracle technology.
  
• Access to the Library of Oracle Knowledge (LoOK), an exclusive repository of technical resources for IOUG members, such as conference papers, presentations, tips, best practices, and select white papers and other technical documents from Oracle Corporation, vendor members, and other sources.
  
• And much more!

Join today! Enter priority code DBTA07 when joining.

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Founded in 1993, the Independent Oracle Users Group (IOUG) (formerly International Oracle Users Group) is a user-driven membership organization for Oracle technology and database professionals serving more than 15,000 database administrators, developers, architects, technical managers and other Oracle professionals throughout North America and worldwide. The IOUG empowers its members and the broader Oracle community through their technical publication, SELECT Journal, Web site resources including more than 3000 papers, tips and articles and networking with other users through online discussion forums, Special Interest Groups and a network of regional Oracle user groups. For more information about the IOUG, please visit the IOUG Web site.

Database Trends and Applications, published by Unisphere Media, provides timely coverage of the technology and intelligence needed to conceptualize, plan, initiate, implement and manage large-scale integrated information projects. Unisphere Media also publishes 5 Minute Briefing: Data Integration, a summary of news, trends, and insights addressing crucial data integration challenges and 5 Minute Briefing: MultiValue, a review of news, technical tips and insights for the MultiValue database community. Visit our Web site here.

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