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However, EnterpriseDB’s Doherty also sees deeper motives for Oracle’s willingness to engage with leading cloud vendors. The partnerships have been “head-scratching,” in that Oracle generally does not get along with either company, he says. “It’s not the first thing that comes to mind for one of the largest, most successful software companies in the world, but when you really think about it, it’s obvious.” Oracle is concerned about open source—“whether we’re talking about operating systems— Linux, or database—PostgreSQL,” he says.
Oracle does support some elements of open source through its multiple acquisitions over the year—particularly that of MySQL, the open source relational database. In February, the vendor announced the general availability of the MySQL 5.6 open source database. According to Oracle, the latest version has been upgraded to support simplified query development and faster execution.
Oracle business partners see new
high-level alliances as positive moves for
the IT giant and its customers.
However, the Salesforce.com partnership shows concern, Doherty says. “Just think of the negative ramifications if one of Oracle’s largest customers were to switch to an open source option like Postgres.” VoltDB’s Hydar believes these new partnerships ultimately help Microsoft and Salesforce more than they help Oracle. “[Microsoft cloud platform] Azure is solid and growing, and Salesforce is a trusted brand and has always been there to help businesses grow,” he says. “When I distill the two deals down I am left with the very basic fact that Microsoft and committing Salesforce are to work with Oracle to ensure their platforms are Oracle-ready. The benefit to Microsoft and to Salesforce is they expand their potential customer base by easing the barrier to migrating to the cloud.
Oracle gains access to a larger playing field while hoping to benefit from the operational street cred Microsoft and Salesforce invested so much in establishing.”
Internet of Things
Since 2010, Oracle has been repositioning technology acquired with Sun Microsystems to build out embedded solutions run by the Java language. In the latest move in this space, Oracle announced its plans to support the emerging “Internet of Things,” part of a strategy that centers on the company’s deployment of the embedded Java language. The IT company intends to advance the role of Java for IoT (Internet of Things) with the latest releases of its Oracle Java Embedded product portfolio— Oracle Java ME Embedded 3.3 and Oracle Java ME Software Development Kit (SDK) 3.3, a client Java runtime and toolkit optimized for microcontrollers and other resource-constrained devices.
Embedded Java applications capture or measure data, which is then handled by Oracle’s middleware, event processing software, and database stack. Oracle also released the Oracle Java Platform Integrator program to provide partners with the ability to customize Oracle Java ME Embedded products to reach different device types and market segments. The goal is to make it easier for developers to use Java ME Embedded as well as make it more broadly adopted for a wider variety of chips.
Mobile
While Oracle has been making some bolder strides in the cloud and embedded space, business partners have mixed feelings about its ability to keep up with the fast-growing mobile computing sector. Some even say Oracle’s mobile strategy has been lacking so far. Oracle’s Salesforce and Microsoft alliances against a backdrop of their emphasis on cloud strategy makes the weakness of their enterprise
mobile strategy all the more surprising,” says Mary Brittain-White, CEO of Retriever Communications, a provider of mobile applications for field operations, tells DBTA. While enterprise mobility is a top initiative, “within the Oracle application management service providers market, mobility represents only 1% of total revenue.”
Oracle’s recent high-level alliances—particularly that with Salesforce.com— may help build Oracle’s capabilities in the mobile space, Sengupta believes. “Oracle Fusion customers can also now leverage Salesforce Mobile SDK and use this as the standard mobile platform for all Oracle Fusion Tap products.”
However, in all fairness to Oracle, “no major ERP provider has been successful in mobile,” Brittain-White continues. “There is a DNA issue—being able to construct great office-based and IT-department-centric solutions is almost a disadvantage when it comes to developing enterprise mobile solutions. The whole paradigm is different.” Mobile apps call for simplicity, while enterprise apps tend to impose workflows upon end users, she says, adding that the next 18 months will bring a surge in mobile solutions for the Oracle ecosystem, “deployed strongly in PeopleSoft, JDE and Oracle EAM environments irrespective of the vendor logo.”