As you may have seen, Oracle announced the other week at Collaborate '06, that we are committed to Applications Unlimited.

So first, what does this mean? This means that Oracle will dedicate development resources for maintaining and enhancing the existing applications product lines - Oracle E-Business Suite, PeopleSoft Enterprise, JD Edwards EnterpriseOne, JD Edwards World, and Siebel - even after Oracle Fusion Applications become available. Combined with our unchanged strategy to deliver Fusion Applications in 2008, Applications Unlimited enables customers to choose the offering that best meets their needs, and feel confident that Oracle will protect that investment. Customers have the option to upgrade, free-of-charge to future technologies if that's what makes sense for their businesses.

And how do partners leverage this? If you're an ISV that provides complementary functionality to Oracle Applications, this strategy helps protect the investments you have made in your product development. Plus it gives you opportunities for new business opportunities - through adoption of Oracle Fusion Middleware you can have smooth integration to other product lines and to future technologies available via Oracle Fusion Applications. If you're a System Integrator, you also maintain the existing investment you have in product expertise and services while extending your business via an expanded Applications portfolio that Oracle will maintain and enhance. You also have an extended line of business for upgrading customers from all of Oracle's applications product lines to subsequent releases of these product lines or to Oracle Fusion Applications. For resellers, you can generate more revenue through sales of Oracle SOA Suite, Oracle Application Server 10g and other members of the Oracle Fusion Middleware product family and Oracle's application product lines. 

A question I've been asked while talking to partners over the last week or so is "will Oracle have the resources to continue to enhance the product lines as well as develop Oracle Fusion Applications"? The short answer is yes. When we integrated the acquired companies, we were able to retain most of the development and support teams, and in actuality, the combined companies have more resources than they did separately

As a partner, the next step for you is to join one or more of the applications Product and Solutions Initiatives (Oracle E-Business Suite, JD Edwards Enterprise One, JD Edwards World, PeopleSoft Enterprise or Siebel) available through the Oracle PartnerNetwork (OPN). Membership in these initiatives gives you access to the educational, technical, sales and marketing resources and services that help you build and expand your business with Oracle. And being a member of one of these initiatives automatically grants you acceptance into the Oracle Fusion Applications Initiative.

As an ISV interested in integrating your solution with one or more of the Oracle Applications product lines, Oracle PartnerNetwork also offers the Applications Integration Initiative. This initiative tests and validates that the integration between your solution and Oracle's Applications product functions as designed. For customers, this results in improved risk management, smoother upgrade capability, and lower total cost of ownership. This initiative provides you with tools and resources, including demo software licenses, design and integration guides, training, and design assistance. You will also be able to showcase your validation with an "Integrated With" logo. The logo represents to customers the investment you have made to reduce their risk and provide an optimal integrated solution to meet their business needs.

One last thing. At the same time as we announced Applications Unlimited, we announced "1000 Events: Oracle Applications World Tour". We're going on the road to make sure we communicate our strategy to customers and partners. Keep an eye out for events close to you.

So in short, avail yourself of the resources that are provided on OPN to get enabled, and know that Oracle commits to protecting your existing investments and providing opportunities to expand your business going forward.

I believe Applications Unlimited is an exciting announcement for our customers as well as our partners. As part of Oracle's overall product and applications strategy, Applications Unlimited adds more revenue opportunities for all types of Oracle's partners. I encourage each of you to insure you fully understand our product and applications strategy so you can easily align your company with the current and forthcoming partner business development opportunities. 

Thanks until next time.

Bookmark/Search this post with:
| | | | | | | |