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http://www.oracle.com/technology/oramag/oracle/07-may/o37field.html
COMMENT: In The Field
Oracle Fusion Propels the Future
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Middleware platform, tools, and application
strategy simplify development and integration. Oracle Fusion Middleware represents a US$1 billion
business for Oracle and is the fastest-growing middleware platform around.
The platform's development paradigm has been created with scalable,
extensible applications in mind, and Oracle Fusion Applications will unify
best-of-business capabilities from all Oracle Applications in a suite
delivered on Oracle Fusion Middleware. Here's a look at what you need to know
now to plan for Oracle Fusion in your future. The Oracle Fusion Middleware tools use Web services;
BPEL; Java Platform, Enterprise Edition (Java EE); and service-oriented
architecture (SOA) for flexibility, ease of application development, and
simplified integration. For example, your human resources department may be
using Oracle's Siebel and Oracle's PeopleSoft applications on an Oracle
database. Oracle Fusion Middleware can tie all these pieces together with a
simple interface. Oracle Fusion Middleware tools include components for
solving real-world problems. Suppose that you want to enable Web-based
requests for an application, to support remote offices or a new customer
demographic. Oracle Application Server tools can make the connection from Web
interface to Oracle back-end applications. Mergers and acquisitions, as well as partnerships and
consolidations, are common these days. When two business entities begin
interoperating, tremendous challenges to operational security—such as
figuring out who has access to what applications and to which data—must
be overcome. Oracle Identity and Access Management Suite can untangle the
situation, offering control of security, authentication, single sign-on, and
other details. Sometimes you want to enable data exchange, such as
when business partners need to exchange information. Oracle SOA Suite
provides a standards-based SOA platform that supports policy management and
business workflow needs. Data can flow back and forth, with the right
constraints and to the right people. By now you've surely heard about Web 2.0. Many sites
offer opportunities to collaborate online, post comments, use
"wiki" knowledgebases, or view interactive streaming video. These
capabilities can give a company a competitive edge in attracting interest in
products and services—and in doing real business transactions online. To get such offerings up and running quickly, Oracle
Fusion Middleware has the new Oracle WebCenter, which includes tools for
customer management, business intelligence, and workflow, all with attractive
Web-oriented interfaces and facilities. Data management is still important. Oracle Data
Integrator, based on technology acquired from Sunopsis, supports integrating
and managing data. Offering functions to better extract, transform, and load
data, it is ideal for populating data warehouses and other structures.
Many applications leverage both structured and
unstructured information. The amount of unstructured business content is
exploding—with everything from documents, Web sites, graphics, and
video to records, e-mail, reports, and images of scanned documents. Oracle
Content Management lets organizations capture, manage, secure, and apply
disposition rules and deliver this content to users and applications in the
right format (HTML, PDF, XML, RSS, and so on). Oracle Fusion Middleware supports development features
that simplify creating and integrating existing applications now, while
setting the stage for future changes. Its "hot-pluggable"
architecture connects not just to Oracle databases but also to other
databases that might also be in your stack. Your Creating interfaces for user platforms is also part
of Oracle Fusion Middleware. Whether your people use Microsoft Office or a
BlackBerry, they can access the data, unstructured content, and applications
they need. Adding GPS systems to a fleet of vehicles? Oracle Fusion
Middleware has the technology to handle that. Whereas Oracle Fusion Middleware can solve a lot of
your problems now, it also delivers major value in providing a path to the
future and to Oracle Fusion Applications. Oracle will be unveiling new Oracle
Fusion-based versions of its flagship applications, and enterprises that
already incorporate Oracle Fusion Middleware in their infrastructure will be
better positioned to implement these new versions. The future is now. |
