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During the ODTUG conference in New Orleans, there were multiple sessions for the Development/DBA. As I consider myself a developer with a great interest in the database, I love going to sessions like these. One of the recurring themes was Instrumentation. During the Expert Panel a question was asked what the biggest thing is that a [...]

The Sept. 21 kickoff of Oracle OpenWorld 2008 is rapidly approaching, and many bloggers are asking the same question:

To go or not to go?

Some people are not too happy, claiming Oracle is suggesting- -or at least making it easier- -to do the latter.

Last year, Oracle opened up its conference to bloggers for the first time- -it was a move that may have been well-intentioned, but the end result was steeped in controversy.

People were upset that Oracle sent out invitations to bloggers but would not pick up their travel expenses. What may have been more upsetting, however, was Oracle’s reasoning: “This will keep [the bloggers] impartial.”

Can bloggers be so easily be “bought?” Does Oracle favor bloggers with a pro-Oracle bias?

The decision caused an outcry in the blogosphere. ZDNet’s Dennis Howlett, for example, accused Oracle of having double standards, and also disapproved of what he said was an unwillingness to give bloggers access to Oracle executives.  Others compared Oracle to SAP, a company that reportedly often pays for bloggers- -even the most critical ones- - to attend its events.  

There is nothing, however, indicating that Oracle pays the OpenWorld travel expenses for any other members of the media, other than accredited press from overseas (this may explain some of Howlett’s frustration- -he is located in Spain). So, maybe the real questions here aren’t about Oracle’s expense-paying policies, but rather how they view the role of bloggers.

So… how do bloggers differ from the rest of the accredited press?

When the OpenWorld blogger program was recently renewed for this year’s conference, only a couple of differences were announced. The first difference is that there is now a blogger credential; bloggers no longer register as Press. No, this isn’t a very significant change - - but, if Oracle is going to officially lump bloggers into their own category, how should “bloggers” be defined? How do you think Oracle envisions these differences?  What if you’re a member of the press but have a blog as well? (think SearchOracle.com, for example).

The second difference in this year’s program is that “there will be a more cohesive program assembled for bloggers.” This, in my opinion, is what matters the most - - that Oracle (especially as they begin to outline their Web 2.0 plans) is willing to continue to invest in bloggers and give them new opportunities. As Jake from Oracle AppsLab, one of the pioneers of the blogger program, said last year: “This is new territory for a lot of us, and personally, I’d like to hear a lot more opinions and suggestions before I support one path or another.”

I’ve asked many tough questions, and it seems like people have yet to agree on solutions. So, if we are yet to have all the answers to this relatively new blogging phenomenon, why should Oracle be expected to? Despite the controversy (Howlett thinks there are a lot of negatives this year as well), does Oracle at least have the right idea with the OpenWorld blogger program? What do you think?

A fairly controversial report from Verizon Business released last month looks into the data of over 500 security breach and data compromise engagements between 2004 and 2007. The 2008 Data Breach Investigations Report goes into detail about the source, size and cause of the data breaches. The following statement from the report summarizes the problem nicely...

Information is everywhere. It should come as no surprise then that data breaches are without question a worldwide phenomenon. The Verizon Business Investigative Response team handled a marked increase in the number of forensic engagements outside North America during the time frame of this study. Though related to caseload, this fact is surely reflective of a broader trend. As the world becomes more interconnected through information technologies, as enterprises aggressively seek global partnerships, and as the laws governing the handling and disclosure of such incidents mature, it is likely that this trend will continue.

The report looks at the different sources of where breaches occurred, finding that external attacks are the most likely to be the source (73%), with partners (39%) and then internal users (18%). In sales situations I am often listening to customers who are intent on building barriers internally to protect sensitive information being shared across business departments. Whilst this requirement is valid in many cases, I believe that IRM is most useful when protecting your sensitive information from illegitimate access from outside your organization, this is reinforced by the numbers in this report. However, protecting information from internal groups is still a very valid use case.

Looking at their data for internal breaches shows it is obvious here that the technology which protects your data needs to be managed by IT but without giving them the access to the data itself. Oracle IRM does this perfectly with its distributed rights model. For example the VP of corporate development managing the company’s mergers and acquisitions should be in charge of deciding who has access to sensitive documents regarding M&A activity. Assistants are armed with the tools to act on those decisions without the IT department having visibility of the secret documents and classifications existing. IT does however continue to manage the IRM server, ensuring its availability and monitoring performance. True separation of duties.

The second large group in the report is employees. IRM again here excels in avoiding such incidents. Firstly the non-malicious incident where an employee accidentally forwards sensitive documents via email or looses data on a laptop or USB device. If these documents and emails are protected using IRM then no matter where they end up, only those with rights are able to open and access the data.

Secondly, and harder to control, are the employees who intend to cause the breach in the first place. IRM helps in several areas.

• Rights controlling the access to content functionality ensures information cannot be copied, printed, screen grabbed or otherwise replicated outside the protected IRM environment. Limiting the options an employee has to redistributing the data.
  
• Simply by opening the content an audit record is generated detailing when, where, how the content was accessed. Making it harder for an employee to claim, "I didn't look at those records, it wasn't me!"
  
• Finally if an employee is planning to mass copy sensitive information before they leave the organization they will find once out the door, they have just a pile of encrypted documents to look at.
  

One area the report highlights that is very intriguing is that the risk of a data breach is most likely to come from a partner. They state a “back of the napkin” calculation of risk (likelihood x impact) finds that partners represent the greatest risk for data compromise. The following shows how this source breaks down.

You have no control over your partner’s networks or security, so it comes as no surprise that this is a major area of concern. The methods used for sharing information with your partners often lack the same security applied to other areas of the business. Because surely your partners are trusted, no? You have all sorts of NDA's and contracts in place...

One big reason customers have been purchasing Oracle IRM is to maintain much greater control over their valuable information once it is shared outside of their controlled enterprise perimeters. Changing partners? No problem, revoke access to the thousands of emails and documents with your companies intellectual property and grant it to the shiny new partner.

The report also breaks down the method and pathway used for the data breach. Although IRM doesn't protect your file servers or website from attack, it is useful to note that no matter what method is used to gain access to your systems, if the content is protected using IRM it is safe. This brings up an interesting point of the ROI for IRM. It is possible to deploy one solution to protect against the loss of sensitive documents and emails from all of the mentioned methods of attack/loss.

One Oracle IRM customer had the requirement to provide access to sensitive documents for their field sales and support staff. They used a web site to host the content and placed it on an internal network only accessible via a VPN. Staff complained the VPN often didn't work from hotels and remote customer locations, preventing them from accessing important information right when they needed it the most. After purchasing Oracle IRM they made the decision to remove the VPN and host the content on a publically facing internet site with the confidence that IRM was protecting their valuable information. Whilst I am not advocating IRM should always replacement other security technologies, it can often provide a secure and alternative method. I would always recommend, where possible, IRM is used to compliment existing security practices and infrastructures.

Finally the conclusions of the report highlight more areas where IRM can be applied. It states that you should Align process with policy. In 59 percent of data breaches, the organization had security policies and procedures established for the system but these were not enacted through actual processes.

Many times I hear customers say they have spent valuable time working on their corporate protection policies and once complete realize they actually need technology to implement them. Oracle IRM makes this alignment and enforcement simple. The easy to use classification model in IRM allows for easy representation of any policies and the ability to pre-seal Microsoft Office document templates means that end users can easily create new secure documents without knowledge of the classification.

You should also Achieve “essential” then worry about “excellent”. Eighty-three percent of breaches were caused by attacks not considered to be highly difficult. Eighty-five percent were opportunistic. These statistics are important because they remind us that criminals prefer to exploit weaknesses rather than strengths.

One conversation I used to have a lot when deploying Oracle IRM, is to consider just one big classification for the entire organization, "All Company Sensitive Data" for example, to which everyone in the company has the ability to seal and access content. This provides a catch all mechanism which ensures that if anything, your sensitive content is at least protected against a "simple breach" such as wrongly emailing a document to someone or loosing a USB flash drive.

Secure business partner connections. Partners, whether intentionally or unintentionally, contributed to 39 percent of data breaches in the study. A large proportion of these would likely have been avoided through the implementation of basic partner-facing security measures.

Simple... use IRM to secure all your sensitive documents and emails when sharing them outside the organization with partners.

With reports like these, information rights management will start to play a bigger role in helping organizations protect their most valuable content. Technologies like Oracle IRM will not only provide the security to do this but also ensure usability is maintained for the end user whilst allowing the entire system to be manageable and scalable across the entire enterprise.

Keynotes, Sessions, Oracle Develop Content, and More—On Demand

Oracle OpenWorld offers 1,700+ sessions—and so much more. So how can you possibly take in the entire experience? With Oracle OpenWorld On Demand of course.

Oracle OpenWorld On Demand provides access to all keynotes and breakout sessions from an online streaming rich media portal—presentations are available within 24 hours after they are made. Keynotes come with synchronized video, slides, scrolling transcripts, and downloadable MP3s and MP4s. You can blog, network, rate presentations, add your own content, and more.

Looking to take it up another notch? Then upgrade to Information Overload Deluxe. More than you need? Then the Oracle OpenWorld 2008 DVD kit may be your perfect pick. Click here to check out these and the rest of this year's official Add Ons. But don't forget, you need to register before you can add.

I read recently about a study conducted by product review online TV site, ExpoTV, where it was found that many people do actually want to "have a conversation" with a brand. Brand can mean many different things. For example, Mr. Whipple (Charmin) and Tony the Tiger (Frosted Flakes) are examples of spokespersons who become part of the brand. Logos or fonts can also represent brands. Think of the Disney font or the font used for the Harry Potter movies. Branding is also slogans, like Nike's "Just do it". And sometimes the brand is just the company name like Apple or Starbucks.

The study found:

- Consumers not only want to talk to brands, they want to establish a conversation. 55% of consumers want an ongoing dialogue with brands.

- Learning about new products in the pipeline is a top priority. Respondents were most anxious to talk to the product design (49%) department, followed by customer support (14%), marketing (14%) and pricing (13%).

- Positive brand experiences can generate word-of-mouth buzz. More than 60% of those polled said they tell 10 or more people about the products they like while a third tell 20 or more people.

- Listening leads to loyalty. 89% of respondents would feel more loyal to brands which invited them to participate in a feedback group, and 92 percent of those who have a positive experience communicating with a brand will recommend purchasing a product from that brand to someone they know.

- Consumers are open to engaging with the competition. 93 percent of consumers surveyed would be interested or very interested in communicating with competitive brands that expressed interest in their feedback if their first choice is not interested in hearing what they have to say.

I know from my own experience with my iPhone and Kindle for example, that I'm more than happy to share my experiences with others and to recommend the products based on my good experiences. I really like being able to check forums for questions and reviews and I think more highly of those companies whose products I buy that provide them.

I think this is important for any business, or even people in the public eye, to know. People want the opportunity to interact and to share. I think that's one of the reasons why blogging is so popular. Making your brand hard to interact with makes people think you've got something to hide and makes them wary.

Opening up a discussion that allows people to share anything/everything about your brand can be a bit scary. I mean, what if someone says something "bad"? In the end, I think that an open dialogue is most important and if there is something "bad", it gives the brand owner a chance to respond and make corrections and have that be seen as well. I like hearing stories where a company "made it right" with a customer. It makes you believe there is a real concern about the consumer involved and it's not just a big machine cranking out product with the only goal being revenue generation. Revenue is certainly important, but if you treat your customers in a top-notch way, the revenue will come.

IBM this week released their predictions on how the importance of correctly handling and using information within the corporate world is to change over the next 4 years.

IBM Council Predicts Data Will Become an Asset on the Balance Sheet and Data Governance a Statutory Requirement for Companies Over Next Four Years

It talks about risks and quality of information in such areas where information rights management would play a key role. A good quote from the article is, "Data has become the new currency in today's information economy, but many businesses make the wrong decisions by not using the right information."

One value of an IRM solution is the ability to ensure that only the latest versions of documents are being used. With Oracle IRM it is simple to revoke access to older documents which is reflected immediately when the client next communicates to the server. Additionally Oracle IRM redirects those accessing older information to a customisable website which could be used to automatically redirect the end user to the latest version of content. So no matter how many copies of documents are made and no matter where they get stored, the business can be ensured only the latest are available for access. Therefore the risks of misinformation use are dramatically reduced.

Another important piece of functionality IRM delivers is auditing. Every time a piece of sealed content is accessed, this is audited on the IRM server. Therefore the CIO has the ability to use reports to satisfy queries on governance and compliance. Oracle IRM has very rich auditing, below is an image depicting some of the raw data available. It shows useful items such as local and remote IP addresses, time/date, username and where the content was accessed from.

The article goes on to state, "In just a few years, data governance will become a key benchmark as boards of directors recognize their fiduciary responsibility to enhance and protect data, and markets measure business performance by looking at data value and risk on the balance sheet."

Information Rights Management is able to protect this key data, working alongside technologies such as database encryption and DLP perimeter controls.

This is something you'll want to know: Registration is now open for the Enterprise 2.0 Boot Camp on July 28 in Redwood Shores.

Most of you would agree, I'm sure, that the "soft" issues pertaining to deployment/use of Web 2.0 tools and technologies in the enterprise ("Enterprise 2.0" for short) - cultural change, privacy, best practices, internal collaboration - are top of mind right now. What company worth its salt has *not* considered, or begun to consider, the organizational impact of such deployments (exclusive of specific technology choices, which comparatively speaking are rather tactical in nature)?

We think these issues are really important, and we also think that the people affected by them are eager to share their concerns and experiences, as well as to hear those of others. Why do we think this? Because at Oracle we are going through this same process. For example:

- What are the privacy and HR implications of internal social networks?
- What are the "fiduciary" responsibilities of employees in the blogosphere?
- What is the business value of building "community"?

Notice that I have not mentioned technology here, because these questions are pertinent and important regardless of your platform/technology choices.

Perhaps most interesting - and also most risky - is the unconference format of this event. After a brief welcome, we will encourage attendees to form their own working groups/sessions and follow through accordingly. At the end of the day, we'll all rejoin for knowledge transfer, networking, and drinks. We don't expect every attendee to be familiar with this format, but we think it's important that the event itself align with the principles involved.

Enterprise 2.0 Boot Camp is free, and we'll get breakfast and lunch. Please do register, because we'd love to hear from you there.

Some supporting resources: Mix group, wiki

Oracle recently published the most recent version of their global price list. I am not sure how it translates to local transactions (for example if and how the currency exchange rates are applied). And I cannot say I understand all the options listed. But some of the entries are interesting nevertheless. See http://www.oracle.com/corporate/pricing/technology-price-list.pdf for the [...]

This is a guest post by Nathan Garrett for the On the Horizon series on distributed learning environments. Nathan is two weeks from being an PhD Candidate at Claremont Graduate University, where he has been going to school since 2003. He pays bills by working as an Institutional Researcher at Woodbury University. Nathan researches various aspects of educational technology, and currently maintains the Folio wiki/portfolio add-in for the Elgg social networking system. He lives with his wife Corrie, son Silas, daughter Rose and a pet cat in Burbank, CA. Blog: http://conversation.cgu.edu/garrettn/weblog

Is this our modern course management system?

Sitting at a desk, staring at a screen, and punching buttons in a Pavlovian manner works for educational technology nerds like myself. It’s an efficient way to transmit information, but it doesn’t provide the rich education that liberal arts colleges promise. A college diploma is more than a set of facts; it is a maturing of the entire person through a conversation with other people, theories, and disciplines.

Studio education is used in many design disciplines as a way to bring students into a discipline. Making learning public, these disciplines give us a model for the next generation of educational technology. Rather than worrying about peer learning “leading” to cheating, why don’t we think about its power to engage and inspire?

Social software like blogs and wikis work. Claremont Graduate University has been using Elgg, a social software system, to support courses for the last two years.

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This is a guest post by Glen Moriarty, PsyD, for the On the Horizon series on distributed learning environments. Glen, who is CEO of NIXTY, has served in several executive and academic positions. He co-founded and led Scholar360 for several years. He is also a licensed psychologist and educator who has taught at the doctoral level. He has published and presented on eLearning, psychology, and technology, and is a member of the Society for the Scientific Study of Religion and the American Psychological Association. Glen lives in Norfolk, Virginia with his wife, Nicole, and their twins, Colin and Madeleine.

“Don’t fight the Internet.” Eric Schmidt, CEO, Google

“Fight the Internet.” CEO, Major LMS Company

Learning management systems (LMS) have solved many problems by providing a way for people to learn in an online context. The suite of tools that are commonly associated with the LMS (SCORM, file-sharing, test managers, gradebooks, collaboration tools etc.) has brought real value to institutions, educators and students. Despite this progress, however, there still remain several problems that obstruct the LMS from reaching its full potential in a distributed learning landscape. These difficulties largely arise from a hesitancy to develop learning management systems that leverage the Web 2.0 strengths of the Internet.

The above quote attributed to a CEO of a Major LMS company is not a real quote. It is just used as a bit of hyperbole. Major LMS/CMS companies, however, have taken several steps that suggest this is their tacit approach to dealing with Web 2.0. Clearly, this tendency to resist the Web is unsustainable (Christensen, Johnson, Horn, 1997). Academics, businesses, and programmers need to collaborate and find ways to harness the Web to facilitate access to open educational resources.

My paper will explore the opportunities in moving to a Web 2.0 global learning environment. My goals are to highlight how OpenSocial, Open ID, and OpenCourseWare can be leveraged to amplify learning for people and institutions around the globe. NIXTY, a forthcoming Web 2.0 platform, is utilized to illustrate how different components can be implemented to facilitate open education.

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You’ve just driven into Standardstown. It’s getting late and you need a place to stay. Your GPS navigation system has five listings under “accommodations”, with the following descriptions:

W3C campground

This campground provides well-equipped tents (free wi-fi throughout the camp). It has the most developed community feeling of all nearby accommodations. Every evening residents gather around a bonfire and the camp elders sing cryptic songs. At they end, the elders nod in approval of the moral of the song. Most campers don’t understand the lyrics but they like the melody. There is a recurring argument about how much soap the campground management should provide to guests. Old timers want to do away with this practice, but management is afraid that business travelers won’t patronize the camp if they are not provided with plenty of soap. The camp is located along a river, downstream from a large factory. When stuff floats down from the factory and lands on the shore of the camp, they call it a submission and thank for factory. So far, the attempts to build a clubhouse from the factory rubbish has mainly created eyesores.

OASIS housing development

This housing development is an option for accommodation because its management will give a plot of land to almost anyone who asks. More specifically, there needs to be at least three of you in the car. If you’re on your own, a common trick is to go pick up the village drunk (offer him a drink) and the village idiot (tell him you want his advice). They can usually be found on the main plaza, arguing about the requirements of imaginary users. Once you have your plot of land, the OASIS management maintains electric power, water and sewer but you can do pretty much what you want otherwise. If you just need temporary housing, you can just pitch a tent. As a result of this approach, there are several houses abandoned half-way through construction. This can make it hard to find your way to the house you are looking for. Residents typically don’t know anything about what’s going on in the house next door. You’ll find nice families living next to a crack house.

Motel DMTF

This motel is hard to find because it hides behind high walls. Even once you’re inside, there are segregated areas. Chances are your room card will give you access to the pool deck but not the clubhouse. Make a mental note of the way to the emergency exits, because there is no evacuation map on the wall (the map exists, but it’s considered confidential). We’ve heard that the best suites have a special door for direct access to the management office. After you leave, you can’t tell your friends what happened there. This review itself probably breaks some confidentiality rule.

WS-I Resort

This time-share resort is the newest development in town. By the time it got built, all the good land was taken so they had to build on land fragments leased from other hotels. The facilities are new and nice, but the owners association is dysfunctional. We’ve been told the feud started when a co-owner tried to organize a private mime show on shared land. Whatever the origin of the disagreement it has resulted in veto rules being commonly invoked, stopping most of the activities that the resort was originally planning to offer. But it remains a good option if you just need a place to sleep. The resort marketing has been pretty efficient: before doing business with you, many local companies will demand to see a receipt to show that you slept there.

Hotel ISO

Just getting a reservation there is a month-long process, so this is not an option if you’re already in town. Unfortunately, if you plan to do business with the local government you are expected to patronize this hotel. If that’s your case, the solution is to sleep in one of the other places in town and just go to this hotel for breakfast. Once there, order their breakfast special (called the “fast-track ruber stamp” which, unfortunately, tastes as bad as it sounds) and staple the breakfast receit to your hotel bill. That should satisfy the city hall staff that they can do business with you.

I'm really excited!

I'm so looking forward to camping out in the middle of Sydney Thursday night (btw. Carl, I maybe a little tired Friday morning!)

I AM the gadget king and despite having a collection of all-things cool, including the previous model iPhone, will be in the queue this week to get my hands on the new 3g model.

What does this have to do with this blog you maybe wondering? Actually it has a lot to do with information management in general and the impact that organisations like Apple are having on the way that individuals (as opposed to organisations) view their unstructured information.

Apple is launching a couple of things this month. First of all, the obvious and well publicised launch of the 3g iPhone and secondly, the vastly improved MobileMe service which replaces the .MAC services. I'm not going to spend time in this post talking about the iPhone - there are plenty of other sources of information available across the internet for you to peruse. Instead, I thought I'd talk holistically about MobileMe and its offerings to the public and how its principals can be applied to the corporate world.

To start with, and to put this all into context, I am a gadget geek! In my arsenal of tools I currently use the following on a regular basis.

• My corporate laptop - a Dell D430 kindly provided to me by Oracle
• My personal laptop - an Apple Macbook Air
• My home desktop - an Apple PowerPC tower with 2Tb of storage holding my audio/video etc....
• My home media hub - an AppleTV
• My home backup solution - Apple TimeCapsule
• My ipod(s) - principally I carry a 160gb but also have an 8gb nano in the car
• My mobile phone - a 2.5g iPhone running on the Optus network (soon to be replaced by the new 3g model)
• My UMPC - an OQO 02 running Vista and Office 2007 on a 5" screen

I use Outlook on my corporate laptop to manage my contacts and calendar, I use the Apple tower at home to manage my multi-media files, I use both WiFi and Bluetooth technologies to get all these systems to talk to one-another and I have a very understanding Fiance who accepts me for my geekness!

Keeping all of this technology in sync is relatively easy to achieve for me - having been around IT for 20 years I understand how all this works and how I can get the best out of every component. But, the majority of the public would struggle when more than a couple of these devices need to work together. Running a desktop/laptop at home and synchronising through iTunes with an iPod is easy. Even adding a smartphone into the mix and using some proprietary integration with the Windows/Mac application to synchronise the calendar and contacts can be relatively easily achieved. But I want a choice of which technology I leave the house with in the morning and that's where it starts to get complex. For example, if I am at work during the day and I add new contact to Outlook - I have to somehow get this onto my iPhone, my OQO, my Air and my Desktop and any changes made on any device have to be synchronized appropriately.

MobileMe goes a long way to making this easy for all to achieve. The principal of supporting PUSH for email, contacts and calendar means these pretty much get automatically synchronised whenever an appropriate internet environment is available. Supporting native applications (Outlook on Windows, Entourage on Mac etc.) is a big plus as users don't have to worry about importing or exporting information from these solutions. Providing web-based accessibility to these solutions through a 'common' UI means users can go to almost any connected terminal in the world and access/change information and have this 'automatically' updated on 'all' their devices. Of course, this all works for multi-media and unstructured information as well so pictures, video and audio as well as documents, spreadsheets and presentations become instantly available to you from anywhere in the world.

This is all great from a personal perspective, but what about the corporate world?

One issue I see is where an individual takes their corporate information and 'shares' it with themselves through this type of service so that they can work from home. I take work home all the time but my corporate information does not leave my corporate laptop - if it does, I ensure it is properly deleted after I have finished working with it. We see this type of problem with many of our customers and prospects - the solution is to apply some kind of digital rights to the information meaning that only people with appropriate access can access the data. Implementing an IRM solution is straight-forward and any organisation that allows users to work in this flexible and mobile manner should be seriously considering this environment.

The concept of supporting a more-mobile workforce within an ECM environment is a common theme nowadays. When we speak to our customers and prospects - this is a frequent and highly-weighted business requirement that our solutions are expected to support. Looking back historically, 5 years ago mobility within the workforce was limited primarily as a requirement to executives who travelled frequently between offices. Putting in place an ECM solution that couldn't be accessed remotely from a users office location meant severe disruption to their effectiveness and at the executive level could place an organisation at risk (or a the very least, result in a bagging of the IT department who implemented the solution). Nowadays, we are expected to support mass-mobility within an organisation - here at Oracle a large percentage of employees frequently travel inter-state and internationally and ALL enjoy ongoing access to their information - assuming they've followed our internal guidelines of course.

This brings me to the real solution. Technology is really good and works well when it is supported by appropriate policies and procedures that allow the workforce to retain their flexibility in their work-practices whilst adhering to corporate standards. If it is easy for a user to create, store, manage, publish or search for information with negligible impact on their daily lives then this type of solution will be successful. If the same solution provides a level of security for the organisation, preventing loss/theft of data for example, then everyone wins.

ECM solutions, implemented correctly, do just this! A simple architecture based around a centralised repository with non-intrusive user-facing tools that appear to be the standard applications is the technological solution. Implementing best-practice change-management procedures to address the education and support of the users is the human solution. Together, adoption of the solution can be assured and the project deemed a success. Where one or other fails to meet its expectations or objectives - the problems begin.

Long live the iPhone, just make sure that when your users start using its features and functions you are protected or at least - are thinking about protection in the near future.

Paul

Oracle has acquired a lot of technology recently - some of the biggest acquisitions have been within the Applications space. In addition to the Oracle eBusiness Suite, we own PeopleSoft, Siebel and JD Edwards and our acquisition of the Stellent technology in November 2006 puts us into a great position to underpin these applications with real-value content solutions.

Let's take a financials package for example, Oracle eBusiness Suite (EBS). Many organisations have successfully deployed this application to streamline their business processes but have neglected to solve an issue that causes headaches within the business teams. The handling of paper-based information within a financials process occurs on a daily basis and at certain periods (end of month, end of year predominately) the volume of paper being handled rises dramatically. Handling paper through a review and approvals process generates risk for an organisation. Believe it or not, the risk of spilling a cup of coffee on the paper is pretty high in most organisations as is simply mis-placing or losing the paper itself. Internal envelopes are notorious for getting lost for months-on-end - I've heard so many horror stories around this in my past. In addition to the risk of damaging or losing the paper, the process itself becomes long and cumbersome. Manual review and approval of paper - including the necessary cross-checks required can take anything from a week to a month to complete which in today's electronic age should be unacceptable to most organisations - particularly those that supply you with their goods!

There are solutions that help streamline the process through image-capture and electronic workflow processing. These solutions are easy to implement, highly-configurable as required and on the grand-scheme of things - relatively cheap to procure and own.

Now, of course, Oracle doesn't only look after it's own applications. SAP is out there being used by many organisations to run their businesses - we know a fair bit about this as most of the large deployments run Oracle's database at the back-end. SAP has a relatively good content management solution within its environment - but it is not considered by many to be enterprise-class as it doesn't really support the majority of ECM capabilities outside of its own ecosystem. Within SAP we provide an important and crucial solution that helps streamline the application itself ensuring ongoing performance without the need to consistently invest in new hardware. This solution is called SAP Archiving and is based upon the principal that only a relatively small percentage of data within SAP is actually being used. Once a financial transaction is complete, for example, the details (including any unstructured information) can be shipped out of the live environment into an archive - as long as it remains accessible if required. The Oracle Universal Online Archive solution fits this requirement nicely.

We are running a series of informative events in Sydney and Melbourne in the next few months to educate our customers and partners around these solutions. If you would like to be a part of these events, please let use know otherwise watch this space for registration details.

Paul

I can’t shake the feeling that if Steve Vinoski, Steve Jones and Stuart Charlton had a drink together they’d actually agree on pretty much any distributed computing question that is worded in specific and unambiguous terms.

If you are not subscribed to their three blogs (and I don’t understand why you would not be if you have enough free time to read mine), here is a quick summary of the discussion so far:

Steve Vinoski writes an article critical of RPC approaches. Steve Jones doesn’t agree and explains why in a review of the article. Steve Vinoski is not impressed by the content of the review and even less by the tone. Stu sides with Steve Vinoski.

I think they all agree that, all other things equal, it is a good thing to facilitate the task of developers by providing them with intuitive interfaces. They also all agree that you can’t write distributed applications that shield the developer from the existence of a network. The key questions then boil down to:

• what degree of network awareness do you require from developers (or what degree do you award them with, for a more positive spin)?
• what are the most appropriate programming constructs to expose that “optimal” degree of network awareness to the developers?

These questions don’t necessarily require words like “REST”, “RPC” and “JAXM” to be thrown around, other than merely as illustrative examples. In fact, the discussion so far seems to indicate that the questions are less likely to be resolved as long as these words are involved.

Once these questions are answered, we can compare the existing toolkits/frameworks (and yes, even architectural styles) to see which ones come closer to the ideal level of network-awareness and which ones presents the most useful abstractions for that level. Or how each one can be improved to come closer to the sweetspot. Of course, there isn’t one level of network-awareness that is ideal for all cases, but my guess is that most enterprise applications are not too far apart on this.

Oracle has had the "unbreakable" marketing spiel going for some time now. I don't know that I buy their bit, but today, I found the ultimate in unbreakable and it has nothing to do with Oracle. Move over Oracle. Meet Fisher Price.



Today I bought my daughter a Fisher Price Little People: Noah's Ark with Ark Animals set. She has the farm and loves it so I thought she'd also really like this new one since it has so many cool animals. But when I got the thing home and started to try to get it out of the box (note that the photo above shows the item completely unboxed and there is no warning on the packaging of the arduous task you face to get it that way!), it was like trying to break out of a maximum security prison. There were more twisty ties wrapped around plastic anchors bound to cardboard fortified with packing tape than you can imagine. The thing took me the better part of an hour just to get everything detached! I'm talking secure!

Oracle could take a lesson from Fisher Price I think.... If Oracle had half the "unbreakable-ness" that Fisher Price employs in their packaging, Oracle would be unbreakable indeed!

Staying Close to the Action

Our last hotel blog is about choice. You come to San Francisco; you’ve got choices. It’s what San Francisco is all about. Choose your coffee: organic, organic-fair-trade, organic-fair-trade-shade-grown, organic-fair-trade-shade-grown-biodynamic—or just go for whatever they serve at breakfast. Choose the Giants or the A’s. Choose tie-dye (plenty still do) or pinstripes.

So, you may choose to stay someplace really deluxe. Someplace that understands your black-perigord-truffle soufflé (served, perhaps, in a rich venison demi-glace) goes just fine with a Palmina Alisos 2004.

On the other hand, you may not want much more than a clean bed, warm shower, and maybe an instant-coffee packet in your room. You won’t have to justify anything to the bean counters.

Fortunately, you have choices either way. And either way, you’ll be in San Francisco; you’ll be at Oracle OpenWorld 2008.Our final list gets you pretty close to Moscone Center, where the event takes place. Also, check out the links to previous blogs. Because a few of the hotels on those lists are close by.

Hotels with an asterisk (*) are on the list of Oracle OpenWorld 2008 official conference hotels. They offer special rates to attendees.

Hotels that are downtown-y or near Moscone ...

Grand Hyatt San Francisco*
Hotel, capital-H. Big. Expansive. Waves of international tourists are constantly surging through the towering lobby. Although during Oracle OpenWorld, it’ll probably just be a bunch of your friends.

InterContinental San Francisco*
A 32-story tower of blue glass that forms a nexus of every conceivable luxury, accommodation, service, amenity, and provision. The restaurant is run by an all-star chef; the bar serves all-star drinks to the little-black-dress/Prada loafer crowd.

Sir Francis Drake*
This is the granddaddy of refinement, all bathed in the warm familiarity of old San Francisco money. Go to Harry Denton’s Starlight Room to see women actually wearing disco dresses and fur.

W San Francisco*
For the sophisticated techie. It’s right across from Moscone Center and Yerba Buena Gardens. The scene is vibrant, the bar and restaurant are lively, and the hotel prides itself on the world’s most comfortable bed.

Hotel Palomar*
Conveniently close to Moscone Center. It houses one of San Francisco’s finest restaurants, The Fifth Floor. If you want to eat there, make your reservations and secure financing now.

Other hotels close by Moscone:

Courtyard by Marriott—San Francisco Downtown*
Hilton Financial District*
Hilton San Francisco*
Hotel 480*
Hotel Nikko*
Hotel Whitcomb*
Marriott San Francisco*
Parc 55 Hotel*
Westin San Francisco Market Street*

Or, you can do your own research ...

Here are a few links to accommodations in San Francisco.

Oracle OpenWorld 2008 hotels link

Google OpenWorld Hotel Map

Hotwire.com

SFTravel.com

SanFrancisco.com

For our favorite 2.0 word from the street, check out Yelp.com

Check out the previous post on luxury hotels
Check out the previous post on hip hotels

Whitepaper: Oracle Grid Computing Best Practices
Contributed by Angela Golla

Five years after the introduction of Oracle's Enterprise Grid Computing strategy, Oracle has released a new whitepaper that focuses on the IT best practices that have emerged from successful grid implementations around the world. Download the whitepaper.

New Architecture Centers
Contributed by Angela Golla

OTN gives architects their props with the debut of new centers featuring expanded coverage of SOA, XTP, Virtualization (Oracle VM + JRockit), and Enterprise 2.0.

Obviously, I’m poking around EnterpriseDB’s site this morning (in connection with their status as my client, actually). Anyhow, we all know that one of EnterpriseDB’s core claims is great Oracle-compatibility — but what exactly do they mean by that? I found a fairly clearly laid-out answer, as of last year, in this white paper and and — even more simply — in this blog post summarizing the white paper.