Oracle News & Articles

We're entering a big week in the IT industry -- especially for the silicon valley types. Oracle Open World kicks off today in San Francisco with keynotes from Larry Ellison and one of Oracle's two presidents, Safra Catz. We'll also hear from co-President, Mark Hurd, on Monday, Thomas Kilroy, Intel's General Manager, and Michael Dell and Larry again on Wednesday. It's quite a line-up.

Among Oracle's traditional DB- and ERP-centric topics, we expect to hear a lot about CRM and Social CRM, how Enterprise 2.0 is shifting the Apps business and of course, dear to our hearts, just what is next with the company's Fusion Middleware and Universal Content Management product space.

So, with all the forward looking statements the big boys 'n girls are about to grace us with, I thought it appropriate to consider 10 companies under $100 mil that are shifting the game.

Editor's Picks

• 4 Things You Need to Know About Oracle Open World
  Even if you're not attending, this event probably effects your professional life in some way.
• Boosting Information Findability -- The Intersection of Content, Community and Commerce
  Carl Frappaola unveils the latest information management lessons: how to make your information intensely findable.
• Is SharePoint 2010's DAM Good Enough for Your Organization?
  If you're trying to get control of your digital assets, here's what SharePoint can do for you.
• IBM's New Customer Experience Suite -- Analytics, Social Software and Ecommerce
  Beyond acquisitions, IBM now offers tools for multi-channel engagement and conversion.
• What is Information Management Agility?
  Our editorial focus for September is how enterprises are learning to appreciate and better manage information. Here's the primer.
• Top IT Project Management Mistakes
  It's never easy but here are some key tips on keeping your IT project sane and timely.

Most Popular Articles

These are the articles readers fancied most this week:

• Microsoft Dynamics CRM 2011 Released in Beta
  See what's on the horizon for CRM, according to Microsoft.
• The Content Conundrum: Redefining Content Strategy
  Corinne Schmid leads us on a reflection exercise. Do you understand Content Strategy?
• The Importance of Context: Why Enterprise 2.0 Still Fails to Deliver Value
  Don't let the apparent inherent value of new enterprise 2.0 tools and culture fool you -- success is not ensured. Here's a take on why.
• A Week in Google: Instant Killed the SEO Star, Google TV Due in Fall
  The flashy new Google Instant threatens to kill everything we've come to know about search engine optimization, but at least we have Google TV.
  
• 7+ Social Software Platforms for Enterprise Collaboration
  A look at key software platforms leading the enterprise social movement.
  
• Web CMS Market Predicted to Hit $1 Billion in 2010
  New research on the size and growth of the the Web CMS market is good news for most vendors. Others need to get their brand shaped-up -- if they want to play in the big leagues.
  

New Industry Job Openings

Here's what's been brewing for new jobs and career upgrades. Both seekers and employers, catch the best fish of the season in our industry job board.

Featured Jobs

• Business Systems Analyst at Adobe
• Marketing Coordinator at Nuxeo (Paris)
• Web Graphic Designer at USO (United Service Organizations)
• Sr. Web CMS Developer (Java) at BET NETWORKS
  
• Web Content Manager at USO (United Service Organizations)
• Copy Editor/Proofreader at Business Wire
• Senior Interactive Graphic Designer at NPR
• Content Manager at Expedia

Traveling or Virtual, There are Events to Attend

Wondering how to spend your time in the coming months? Fear not, our Industry Events Calendar will keep you busy.

Featured Events

• Oct 7, 2010 -- HartmanEVENT 2010 - Social Media & Mobile Usability in Utrecht NL
• Oct 7, 2010 -- Forrester's Content & Collaboration Forum in New York
• Oct 13, 2010 -- Day Software Ignite Conference in Chicago
• Oct 19, 2010 -- Smart Content Conference in New York
• Nov 2, 2010 -- Day Software Ignite Conference in Berlin
• Nov 2, 2010 -- J. Boye Conference in Aarhus, DK
• ...view all events here.

With OpenWorld only a weekend away Oracle (news, site) couldn’t have gone into it on a higher note than the publication of its Q1 earnings that showed a 20% increase in net income and a 48% rise in revenues.

Since January, the tech world has been atwitter (literally) about Oracle (news, site). With their official acquisition of SUN this last winter, their launch of Fusion Middleware 11g this summer, the departure of Charles Phillips and addition of Mark Hurd to the executive suite, there has been plenty of fuel for speculation and rumor. Next week at Oracle OpenWorld in San Francisco I’ll bet that there will be as many answers to those questions as there are booths with candy. 

After two weeks of bids and counter bids, Dell (news, site) finally announced last night that it was pulling out of the race to acquire data storage provider 3Par. As a result, it is now likely that HP (news, site) will acquire the Fremont, CA, company for the US$ 2.35 billion final offer that has been accepted by the boards of HP and 3Par.

Open Text's (news, site) Q3 2010 showed some turbulence. Their Q4 and fiscal year 2010 results are not much different.

More acquisition news today. This time, from Dell (news, site)  that has just announced an intention to buy data storage vendor 3Par for US$ 1.15 billion in a deal that, the buyer says, will enable it to cut enterprise data management costs by up to 50%.

Last week in Google was like a week in a bad soap opera: First the Internet giant pissed everyone off when they partnered with Verizon in a proposition to erode 'net neutrality, then Oracle slapped them with a patent and copyright infringement suit. 

This week new research from Check Point, carried out by the Ponemon Institute shows that many systems administrators get very jumpy when enterprise users try to deploy Web 2.0 apps, believing that the apps will expose systems to outside interference. Some GRC attention with a new partnership.

While there have been a number of financial results releases over the past couple of weeks, one of the more interesting is from SAP (news, site),  not only because its software business is often used as a market indicator, but also because of the recent closure of the massive Sybase deal.

It is probably appropriate that a little less than two months after Oracle (news, site) released its Enterprise Content Management Suite 11g, Dmitri Khanine, who publishes the Independent Oracle UCM Knowledge Center, has just released a new book that promises a whirlwind tour of the Oracle Universal Content Management (UCM) component of the suite.

The acquisition of Sybase (news, site) by SAP (news, site) which was first announced in May, has passed the final hurdle after the European Commission gave it regulatory approval on Tuesday evening.

With the deadline for the deal fast approaching, the German software giant extended its offer deadline for its US$ 5.8 billion cash offer for Sybase shares pending approval. With EU approval now in the bag, the deal is due to finally close next Monday.

 Gartner (news, site) has officially recognized the growing movement that is Social CRM by giving it a place on the list of Magic Quadrants. So what are they saying about it and what where do all the vendors sit in the quadrant?

The London launch of Oracle’s (news, site) 11g Business Intelligence Enterprise Edition this week is the culmination of three years work to pull together all its business intelligence tools and build on the technologies it acquired with the Siebel and Hyperion acquisitions.

If there was a certain amount of hand-wringing at this year's IOUG conference over how Sun would integrate into Oracle’s (news, site) portfolio from a technology perspective, from the financial side there were no such discussions. The deal is being cited as one of the principal reasons why the software giant has seen its profits grow by 25% in the fourth quarter.

There has been a lot made this week of the announcement that Google is to offer a new PDF reader with Google Chrome that will add web-like functionality to documents. Appian integrates with AnyDoc to combine on-demand BPM with automated document capture.