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 Plans Partner Activities for OpenWorld 2008

Oracle is planning a wide range of activities for Oracle PartnerNetwork (OPN) members at Oracle OpenWorld 2008 in San Francisco. “The key objective of Oracle’s Worldwide Alliances & Channels organization is to enhance the sales and delivery capabilities of our partner ecosystem, enabling them to drive sustained growth and continued success,” said Judson Althoff, group vice president of worldwide alliances and channels, Oracle. “The partner sessions and programming for Oracle OpenWorld are designed to support these goals and our commitment to increase revenue and profitability for our partners, while delivering leading Oracle solutions to customers around the globe.”

Starting with the Oracle PartnerNetwork Forum to be held on Sunday, September 21, Oracle OpenWorld 2008 will feature a series of Partner Pavilions and partner-only sessions intended to enable partners to share knowledge, showcase specialized solutions, increase customer and prospect visibility, and drive business growth. The Oracle PartnerNetwork Forum will also host the fifth annual North America Titan Awards Ceremony.

The Oracle PartnerNetwork Forum will explore growth strategies; including profiting from Oracle's acquisitions, penetrating new markets, and triangulation, as well as accelerating business through advanced partner enablement and OPN program enhancements. The event, to be held at the Hilton San Francisco in Union Square, is scheduled to include vision and strategy presentations from Oracle senior executives and opportunities to network with Oracle representatives and other partners. Partners will have the opportunity to gain valuable insights, contacts and resources in a series of specialized breakout sessions.

The North America Alliances and Channels Titan Awards ceremony to be held at the Hilton San Francisco on Sunday, September 21, at 7:10 p.m. will recognize the innovative solutions and business achievements of partners within the Oracle PartnerNetwork, as well as acknowledge partner excellence from around the world. The Oracle PartnerNetwork Reception will immediately follow the Titan Awards ceremony.

Oracle OpenWorld will feature Partner Pavilions to enable OPN members to showcase their solutions and increase visibility with customers, prospects and other Oracle partners. This year’s Pavilions include: the Oracle Accelerate Pavilion aimed at helping customers and prospects discover comprehensive, easy-to-own, industry-focused solutions at an affordable cost; the Security, Risk Management, and Compliance Pavilion featuring Oracle and partner solutions that enable enterprise security and sustainable regulatory compliance, risk management, and corporate governance; a Solutions Pavilion featuring solutions built around Oracle Database, Oracle Applications including Oracle CRM On Demand, Oracle VM, Oracle Fusion Middleware and Oracle Business Intelligence; Oracle’s JD Edwards Pavilion featuring products directly related to Oracle’s JD Edwards solutions; and the Mobility Pavilion featuring software for mobile infrastructure, PDA/smartphones, GPS, hands-free, audio/video devices, mobile broadband cards, Ultra-Mobile PC devices.

The Oracle PartnerNetwork Lounge will be open throughout the week and is located in Moscone South, Room 100. For additional information about the Oracle PartnerNetwork activities, go here.
For more about Oracle OpenWorld, go here.

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Oracle Introduces “Inner Circle” Partner Initiative for Oracle CRM On Demand

Oracle has launched its new Inner Circle Partner Initiative for Oracle CRM On Demand. Oracle said the initiative is intended to showcase a select group of best-of-breed partners that have demonstrated significant value driven by proven customer success, traction with Oracle's sales organization, and synergy with Oracle CRM On Demand's current and future direction.

The collaborative effort between Oracle and Inner Circle partners will help ensure that partner solutions are aligned with Oracle's product and sales direction, and are ready to serve the broad needs of Oracle's largest enterprise customers. Each Inner Circle partner collaborates directly with the Oracle CRM On Demand product strategy, product management, engineering, QA, and Global Alliance ISV organizations, helping to expand the development of their solutions and facilitate sales engagement.

"The Inner Circle is a special initiative where customer testimonials are paramount," said Anthony Lye, senior vice president of CRM, Oracle, in making the announcement. "The benefits of the initiative are white-glove attention on many aspects of partner enablement and engagement, such as design calls with product experts, access to senior executives, and focused engagement by over 1,000 Oracle field representatives. As such, there is little confusion for our customers about who we recommend working with to deliver an expanded CRM On Demand experience."

The first top-tier partners chosen for the Inner Circle have been dubbed the “Elite 8.” They include: ActivePrime (real-time data deduplication); Antenna Software (customizable mobile CRM); BigMachines (configure, price, propose); Cast Iron Systems (integration solutions); Eloqua (automated marketing and demand generation); Right90 (sales forecasting and revenue performance management); White Springs (top sales methodologies); and Xactly (sales performance management).

Inner Circle members will demonstrate their solutions at Oracle OpenWorld in the CRM On Demand DEMO grounds (Moscone South Hall, Booth 1032) and at the invitation-only Social CRM Inner Circle Community Reception. For more about Oracle CRM On Demand, go here.

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Texas Memory Systems Offers Write Accelerator

Texas Memory Systems has announced a new Write Accelerator specifically designed to increase Oracle database performance. IT accelerates Oracle databases by allowing them to handle greater transaction volumes and add more concurrent users. The Write Accelerator, a special edition RamSan solid state disk solution, writes with 40 times less latency than the cache of a standard RAID array and is easily integrated into Oracle environments, according to the vendor. “The message is that if you have write I/O problems, then we can make your application faster. It is just that simple,” Woody Hutsell, executive vice president, Texas Memory Systems, told 5 Minute Briefing.

According to Texas Memory, solutions provided to accelerate writes must meet three requirements. They must tightly integrate with the operating systems that run Oracle; must support Oracle and Oracle ASM; and must follow Oracle's stripe and mirror everything (SAME) rule. The Write Accelerator supports Oracle in Windows, Linux, Solaris, HP-UX, OpenVMS, and AIX environments. The systems have been deployed with Oracle databases from Oracle 8i to Oracle 11g, including support for Oracle RAC and Oracle ASM.

The Write Accelerator can be directly attached to Oracle database servers or attached to storage networking components and does not require special skills or training to install and administer. Administrators move their redo logs, undo segments, or temporary tablespaces to the Write Accelerator.  Neither the Oracle database nor the operating system has to be modified to support the Write Accelerator.

“It is not difficult for us to assess if the customer will benefit from the product. It is not difficult to determine what components of the Oracle Database should be put on the product; and it is very easy to install,” said Hutsell. “Once we have identified the problem as one we can fix, then we can almost guarantee a 2x improvement in performance.” More information is available here.

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Share Your Oracle Knowledge at COLLABORATE 09 – IOUG Forum

If you are a DBA, developer, architect or any other technology professional across the Oracle technology spectrum, including Stellent, Essbase and BEA products, submit a presentation proposal* by Friday, October 31 for the chance to speak at COLLABORATE 09 – IOUG Forum, May 3-7, 2009 in Orlando, FL. Don’t miss your chance to:

• SHARE your Oracle knowledge with your peers.
  
• ENHANCE your own knowledge through the teaching of others.
  
• ATTEND the full COLLABORATE 09 conference for free!**

Submit a presentation in one of the following tracks: Architecture and Infrastructure, Business Intelligence/Warehousing, Database, Development, Middleware, Professional Development or Governance Risk and Compliance (GRC).

Submit your COLLABORATE 09 – IOUG Forum presentation proposal by Friday, October 31 to be considered.

Questions? Contact speakers@ioug.org.

*All Oracle employees interested in speaking at COLLABORATE 09 should contact Michael Neuendorff at michael.neuendorff@oracle.com. Please do not submit papers through the official COLLABORATE 09 call for speakers.

**Full conference registration only applies to Expert Technical Sessions, University Seminars and Technical Sessions. Quick Tip abstracts receive 50% off the Early Bird registration rate and Panel presenters will receive $200 off the Early Bird registration rate.

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Visit the IOUG at Oracle OpenWorld Next Week

Planning on attending Oracle OpenWorld next week in San Francisco? Make sure you take advantage of all the IOUG has to offer during the week, including:

• SIG Day*, taking place Sunday, September 21, where more than 45 sessions will be presented by IOUG SIGs in valuable focus areas.
  
• BEA Sessions, taking place Sunday, September 21, where the IOUG and the Oracle Development Tools Users Group (ODTUG) will be presenting BEA-specific, customer-driven sessions.
  
• Technical Sessions, taking place Sunday, September 21 – Thursday, September 25, where the IOUG will present more than 20 sessions in valuable areas, ranging from Fusion Middleware to Content Management to Data Warehousing.

And, make sure you visit the IOUG booth, located in the User Group Pavilion of Moscone West. You could have your name entered into a drawing for a complimentary University Seminar at COLLABORATE 09 – IOUG Forum, May 3-7, 2009 in Orlando, FL, as well as other great prizes.

Register today for Oracle OpenWorld, and make sure you indicate you are affiliated with the IOUG when registering!

*You do not need to be a member of a SIG to join these sessions.

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Deadline to Save on Oracle Streams University Seminar Approaching

Don’t miss your chance to enhance your knowledge on Oracle Streams! Register by Friday, September 26 to save $100 on the IOUG’s University Seminar, Oracle Database 10g Streams: Data Replication, taking place October 27 in Salt Lake City, UT, prior to UTOUG Fall Conference.

Benefit from top-notch education without spending a long time away from the office! Click here to register by September 26. And, click here to register for UTOUG Fall Conference.

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BIWA Summit Early Bird Registration Deadline Extended to September 30

There’s still time to register for BIWA Summit 2008, December 2-3 in Redwood Shores, CA, and save $100! The early bird registration deadline has been extended until Tuesday, September 30, so register today to learn from more than 75 technical sessions, including:

• Honey, I Shrunk the Data Warehouse! - Oracle Data Compression
  
• Build vs. Buy: The Case For Oracle BI Applications
  
• From Batch-Oriented to Real-Time Data Warehousing Loads
  
• Oracle Optimized Warehouse or Data Warehouse Appliance? Why & Why Not?
  
• Save Time and Money with Pre-built Data Warehouse for Retail

Register by Tuesday, September 30 to save!

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Enhance Your Knowledge on SQL and Database Tuning

Register today for the IOUG Boot Camp Seminar, Zen and the Art of Database Tuning, being held in conjunction with various Regional Users Groups (RUGs) throughout the country:

• November 6, 2008 in partnership with National Capitol Oracle Users Group in Reston, VA
  
• November 7, 2008 in partnership with Ohio Oracle Users Group in Dublin, OH
  
• November 14, 2008 in partnership with Dallas Oracle Users Group in Plano, TX

Learn various SQL and Database tuning techniques in this seminar. Topics include: proper table and partitioning design, proper selection of indexes for a specific database and SQL type and more.

Register today to take advantage of the early bird rate!

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Save the Date for IOUG Technology Forum

Save the date for IOUG Technology Forum, taking place December 2, 2008, in Schaumburg, IL. Presented in partnership with Quest International Users Group (Quest), this is a unique opportunity to receive in-depth, focused Oracle technical knowledge in two areas – Fusion Middleware and Database Administration/Development. Don’t miss your chance to attend sessions like:

• Fusion Middleware Track
  
  • What Really is Fusion?
    
  • Integrating Oracle PeopleSoft with Other Applications
    
  • Configuring BEA and Oracle Fusion with PeopleSoft
    
    
• Database Administrator/Developer Track
  
• Oracle for the PeopleSoft DBA
  
• Oracle for the PeopleSoft Developer
  
• Tuning Oracle for PeopleSoft

Keep checking the IOUG Web site, as additional sessions and registration information will provided shortly!

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Live Webinar: Comprehensive Controls for Preventing and Detecting Database Breaches
Tuesday, October 14, 2008, 11:00 a.m. PT/2:00 p.m. ET
Discover how Oracle Database Vault prevents unauthorized access to sensitive data, enforces least privilege and separation of duties policies, and can help eliminate the threats to application data posed by privileged user or DBA, ad-hoc tools, and more. You will also learn how Oracle Audit Vault provides complementary capabilities for monitoring all your databases, detecting and alerting on unauthorized activities by any users, and saving time and money by automating compliance reporting and audit policy management. Click here to register.

Oracle Webcast: Powerful Testing For Fast Low-Risk Deployments
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Oracle Webcast: View Your Web Sites and Applications through the Eyes of Real Users
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Protect sensitive application data in your database with the industry's most advanced real-time database security product, Oracle Database Vault. You can even control what privileged DBA users can and cannot do, as well as when, where, and how they do it. Learn how you can enforce database security policies in our FREE Oracle Database Vault Resource kit with industry expert webcasts, data privacy protection and regulatory compliance guides, step by step tutorials, and more.

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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, a division of Information Today, Inc., 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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