Content Management Matters ™

Oracle is stepping up their game through the acquisition of two new software companies that will enhance their enterprise content management offering in very specific industries. Some say it may finally put them in front of the pack of big boys like IBM and EMC. But how will this new offering stack up against rival Interwoven?

Archiving has become a huge deal for organizations large and small as rules and regulations dictate how easily information needs to be available for compliance and legal purposes. So it's no surprise that enterprise content management vendors are incorporating these requirements into their solution offerings.

Oracle, being no exception, has developed the Oracle Online Archive that uses their database as a storage repository for all types of content, including email, files, etc. Seems like they have been down this road before though. Does a "single solution for all content types" work in the real world?

The EMC World 2008 event just wrapped up in wholesome Las Vegas and the content management industry eyes were ogling both the table top dancers and the (not so?) seductive CM story EMC was peddling.

Newmerix, a provider of comprehensive Application Lifecycle Management solutions, has introduced new versions of Automate!Control and Automate!Change, part of their Automate! suite designed to reduce high costs and effort required to maintain packaged applications like SAP, PeopleSoft and Oracle E-Business Suite.

These programs now offer workflow, document management, improved data reporting and enhanced security for PeopleSoft and Oracle E-Business Suite customers. They also integrate with Microsoft Office SharePoint Server 2007, letting customers benefit from increased collaboration, information sharing and productivity.

Oracle has taken it's Universal Content Management solution to a new level by announcing two new components: Universal Online Archive and Email Archive Service. Both of these components are just the latest in the long line of integrated products to support the growing needs of content management.

IBM is not the only ECM vendor looking to leverage social networking capabilities in their applications. Looks like Oracle is getting into the game as well. In this case, it's a mix of CRM and social networking in an On Demand solution.

Sounds a little like salesforce.com's new Spring 08 release to me.

Oracle Universal Content Management clients must feel a warm rush of excitement hearing that Clay Tablet, an integrator of content management technologies and translation systems/providers will support connectivity to the Oracle CMS.

Like the other big software players, Oracle likes to hold something back for conferences like AIIM so that it has something to talk about -- other than event catering and the weather -- when it bumps into it's professional contemporaries in the bar. Oracle doesn't "do" small-talk very well. And probably doesn't even go to the bar, come to that, preferring to spend the time training for triathlons or something.

So while it may be a lousy drinking buddy, Oracle makes for a good enterprise software partner, and the updates unveiled at this year's AIIM make its Enterprise CMS package a yet more attractive proposition.

Are you an Oracle Content Management fan? Then here's the event of the year for you. It's Oracle's Collaborate 08 conference and it's happening April 13–17, 2008 at the Denver Convention Center in Denver, Colorado.

Seems Oracle is on a buying spree these days. It announced the purchase of document capture solution provider, Captivation right on the heels of it's acquisition of BEA Systems for $8.5 billion. Put these two things together and it's obvious Oracle is a mission to be numero uno in the industry.

And the award for 'Earliest Awards Giveaway 2008' goes to... InfoWorld, which has already announced 2008's Technology of the Year winners. Oracle and Tridion are the big winners in the content management space, picking up the Enterprise CMS and Web CMS gongs respectively.

In the world of Java servlet engines, there are but a few major players. Everybody is familiar with the 800 lb gorillas -- BEA’s WebLogic and IBM’s Websphere. Oracle has a commercial product in the Oracle Application Server, while the open source offerings Jakarta Tomcat and RedHat’s JBoss round out the major players in the space.

But hold the show, according to an InformationWeek article, use of the Tomcat engine outpaces that of it’s competition by a rather surprising margin. And according to BZ Research, 64.3% of the respondents participating in a Java survey from December 2006 are using the Tomcat engine, with Websphere in use at 36.9%, JBoss in use at 32%, WebLogic in use at 23.7% and the Oracle Application Server in use at 22.4% of the environments.

Through a strategic liaison, Oracle now provides Day's JCR/JSR 170-compliant connectors. This enables integration between third-party content repositories -- like EMC Documentum and SharePoint -- and Oracle WebCenter.

The connectors come from a license agreement from 4Q06.

Oracle WebCenter is -- and we quote -- an "integrated, comprehensive, and standards-compliant user experience platform." Java devs can build AJAX-rich components, portlets and content in an open architecture.

Day's standardized connectors yield access to a standardized API from which companies can manage all organizational content.

In short, the liaison is an enterprise-trawling, Web 2.0 junkie's dream.

Day served as initiator of JSR 170. Last year, it helped develop compliant components for Oracle. A group of global industry experts, led by day, includes Oracle, in addition to IBM, SAP, FileNet and Sun.

Not all M&A's are reason to celebrate. Sometimes they happen guns a-blazing. We get the feeling Oracle's attempt to acquire BEA Systems will be just that kind of socially awkward cold war-type thing.

Last Wednesday, Oracle CEO Larry Ellison announced that a future takeover bid for BEA Systems will be less than the US$ 7 billion it was willing to pay last month. He pointed to the stock price and coolly added, "Clearly the $17 price seems too high now."

US$ 17 per share was the valuation of Oracle's initial takeover bid. But Ellison's comment is also an acknowledgment of the downturn in value for a number of tech stocks, which hit Oracle hard, according to the Financial Times. BEA's shares have enjoyed a safe plateau as its shareholders anticipate a fresh bid from Oracle.

Last month Oracle's offer to buy BEA was rejected because it "undervalued the company." But Ellison remains grimly optimistic, adding at its recent SF-based annual financial analyst meeting, "It looks like no one [else] is going to buy BEA. We were the only buyer then."

Oracle never stops moving. While besting Salesforce with its take on enterprise SaaS and bringing some punch to the Stellent suite, it's also decided to start playing in the new media wading pool.

The company has unveiled the following properties:

• Oracle Mix, a social networking site featuring idea voting, groups, user profiles, and Q&A
• The Official Oracle Wiki

The wiki is powered by WetPaint and went public last week.