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It wouldn’t be Monday without Oracle news…

The Big Company today announced that Kimpton Hotels and Restaurants, the leading chain of boutique hotels and chef-driven restaurants throughout North America, has selected Oracle’s JD Edwards EnterpriseOne. Kimpton currently operates 43 hotels and 44 restaurants, and will rely on Oracle product to manage growth, consolidate business processes through improved integration and automate reporting.

Kimpton executives recently decided to standardize all business operations on a single instance of JD Edwards EnterpriseOne. Kimpton hopes to acheieve a scalable business platform capable of supporting company growth and customer service. Kimpton will also be employing Oracle product in streamlining profitability, forecasting budget performance for various projects, managing construction and property requirements, and controlling of real estate portfolios.

Hitachi Consulting was employed as consultant in the Kimpton software selection process and to team with Oracle to implement JD Edwards EnterpriseOne. The implementation project began in November 2006 and is expected to go live with Kimpton’s various properties in the United States in July 2007. The project team is a blending of Kimpton key users and IT resources, Hitachi Consulting functional and technical experts, with support provided by Oracle Consulting Services.

In a move that some industry media are chalking up to a following of Microsoft’s lead, “business software giant Oracle is now giving system administrators a heads-up on its upcoming security patches.”

Today saw Oracle release patches for some 52 security vulnerabilities in Oracle’s Application Server, e-Business Suite, Enterprise Manager and PeopleSoft. Reportedly, this marks the first instance of Oracle offering such advance notification, though Microsoft has been using an early warning system since 2004. Today marked the first quarterly release of such patches for 2007.

The breakdown of critical patch updates looks something like the following.

• The Oracle Database Executive Summary, with 27 new security fixes for Oracle Database products, 10 of which may be remotely exploitable without the need for a username and password. Oracle Database components affected by vulnerabilities that are fixed in this Critical Patch Update include Advanced Queuing; Advanced Replication; Advanced Security Option; Change Data Capture; Data Guard; Export; Log Miner; NLS Runtime; Oracle HTTP Server; Oracle Net Services; Oracle Process Management & Notification; Oracle Spatial; Oracle Streams; Oracle Text; Oracle Workflow Cartridge; Recovery Manager; and XMLDB.

• The Oracle Application Server Executive Summary contains 12 new security fixes for Oracle Application Server, 8 of which may be remotely exploitable without authentication. Oracle Application Server components affected by vulnerabilities that are fixed in this Critical Patch Update include Oracle Containers for J2EE; Oracle HTTP Server; Oracle Internet Directory; Oracle Process Management & Notification; Oracle Reports Developer; and Oracle Workflow Cartridge.

• The Oracle Collaboration Suite Executive Summary, which contains 14 Oracle Application Server vulnerabilities that are in components included in Oracle Collaboration Suite. 11 of these vulnerabilities may be remotely exploitable without authentication.

• The Oracle E-Business Suite and Applications Executive Summary with seven new security fixes for the Oracle E-Business Suite. The Oracle E-Business Suite components affected here include Oracle Application Object Library; Oracle Exchange; Oracle HTTP Server; Oracle Human Resources; Oracle iStore; Oracle Payables; Oracle Reports Developer; Oracle Trading Community Architecture; Oracle Web Applications Desktop Integrator; and Oracle Workflow Cartridge.

• The Oracle Enterprise Manager Executive Summary contains six new security fixes for Oracle Enterprise Manager, five of which may be remotely exploitable without authentication.Vulnerable Oracle Enterprise Manager components include Database Cloning & Data Guard Management; Enterprise Manager Console; and Oracle Agent.

• Oracle PeopleSoft Enterprise and JD Edwards EnterpriseOne Executive Summary contains three fixes for Oracle PeopleSoft Enterprise. This one cleans up PeopleTools.

Complete information on the Oracle CPUs is available here.

In Philadelphia, Project Ocean is theoretically back on track, and $6.9 million will be Oracle’s cost for its failure. Of course, more than $18 million had already been spent on the mammoth water billing system through September, when the city decided the proposed Oracle software wouldn’t work for them; in fact, it didn’t seem to be working at all.

Back in autumn, Computer World reported that officials from the city of Philadelphia had announced an agreement in principle with software giant Oracle Corporation to restart the Project Ocean water-billing system initiative, reportedly at no extra cost to the city. Oracle was called upon to provide additional off-the-shelf utility billing software.

As reported on this website and others, August saw the halting of the three-year multimillion-dollar “Project Ocean.”

Originally written in 2003, the contract with Oracle had the company replacing Philly’s outdated financial systems within their water department in a CRM software involving Oracle implementing “the most complex and biggest IT system” in the Philadelphia government. The project was supposed to be completed in twelve months for a total price of $7 million. More than three years later, the city still has no updated systems and has spent some $18 million.

The Project Ocean story has featured corruption, resignations of long-standing public officials, and embarrassing headlines spread worldwide. The project had been officially halted in August 2005, with the Mayor’s Office of Information Services seeking to analyze alleged overpayment; by March 2006, city officials proclaimed the investigation finished and Project Ocean was reportedly back on track, but there was dispute as to whether Oracle employees were even doing work on the project at that point.

Outgoing CIO Dianah Neff attempted to put a positive spin on the Project Ocean disaster, while citing high personnel turnover and unforeseen technical complexity among reasons for Project Ocean’s failure. Neff confirmed the $18 million figure, with or without this latest agreement, and stated that a like project would normally cost $32 million.

No word from anyone, though, as to why the low low price of $7 million was ever taken seriously, much less accepted by city officials.

Today, the online IT World Canada quoted Philadelphia CIO Terry Phillis as stating that city government has finally signed an amended contract with Oracle.

Phillis’ new plan features a team of twenty contractors to implement the new software, managers from three city agencies created specifically to oversee Project Ocean II, and Phillis himself will “directly oversee the integration of the new billing software in an effort to better control costs.” In a great, realistic quote, Phillis said that "My head’s going to be on the block anyway, so I’d rather have control of my own destiny than have it in the hands of a third party.”

In lieu of the planned Oracle software, Phillis and Philly are implementing Basis2, a software package developed by Adelaide, Australia-based Oracle business partner Prophecy International Pty, and that most of Oracle’s software “will be thrown out.” The project with Prophecy began on December 11.

Back in September, City Solicitor Romulo Diaz Jr. promised that “We’ll have the functionality that the city requires and be able to meet budget requirements and have the billing system up and running sometime in the fall of 2007.” This target is indeed a key date, as it marks the end of sitting mayor John Street’s government.

In the IT World piece, Phillis “said that the software is already running in test mode and that he expects a proof-of-concept bill for an average customer to be produced within four months or so. He added that the billing system should be up and running by December…”

Interestingly enough, IT World also notes that “Project Ocean is designed to replace a 30-year-old, Cobol-based mainframe application that still relies on punch cards.”

Damn, well, selling this thing to an archaeological museum might earn back a little of that outstanding $18.1 mil, eh?

“Philadelphia flushes Oracle out of water bill project” by Matt Hamblen can be read at IT World Canada.

Announced on New Year’s Eve was a joint research initiative by the United Nations Development Programme, IBM and Oracle. The UNDP Asia-Pacific Development Information Programme calls for assistance to Asian Pacific nations to “share and create strategies, blueprints and policies for adopting the right blend of open standards and technology services.” Ultimately, the countries would develop universally compatible applications and networks to improve efficiency in internal and external government services.

The UNDP Asia-Pacific Development Information Programme promises to facilitate the development of “Government Interoperability Frameworks,” stated the UN announcement.

UNDP-APDIP, IBM, Oracle, and the International Open Source Network will be conducting a thorough review of how regional are “promoting efficient, government-wide sharing of information and data by focusing on automatic technology services provided by computing networks, rather than individual technologies.”

Managed enterprise software solutions provider USinternetworking Inc. has announced its creation of a service-oriented architecture to integrate disparate applications and automate application provisioning throughout its enterprise with Oracle Fusion Middleware.

Oracle Fusion Middleware product used by USi included Oracle Access Manager, Oracle Application Server 10g, Oracle BPEL Process Manager, Oracle Identity Manager, Oracle Internet Directory, Oracle JDeveloper 10g, and Oracle Web Services Manager. USi developed the SOA to integrate and simplify user provisioning for its internal business applications which include Ariba and Oracle’s PeopleSoft Enterprise applications.

"Oracle BPEL Process Manager is like workflow on steroids," said USi advanced engineering vice president Mike Rulf with an interesting simile. (Let’s just hope it doesn’t ultimately destroy USi’s musculature and cause premature death like real anabolic steroids do, eh?)

As an application service provider offering managed enterprise solutions for Oracle, PeopleSoft, Siebel and other applications, USi seeks to assist in managing user provisioning and authentication for users.

USi is an AT&T company providing application outsourcing, remote management, professional services, SaaS enablement, eBusiness development, and eBusiness hosting services. USi clientele currently numbers over 150 world-class organizations in 31 countries.

In other Oracle news (and there’s always Oracle news, trust me), the big corporation noted some key customer wins in the second quarter of fiscal year 2007. Oracle had reported a 35 percent increase in applications revenue for the quarter.

Included on the list were examples such as Etisalat, the leading telecommunications provider in United Arab Emirates, which deployed the Oracle Human Resources Management System; the UK government’s Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs’ deployment of stage one in its “Shared Services” roll out; and the National Bank of Kuwait’s selection of Oracle Database 10g and Oracle Fusion Middleware to streamline operations.

For the list of significant Oracle customers wins in the quarters (whoo, it’s long), click here.

Representatives of Oracle India have announced the signing of a memorandum of understanding with the Karnataka Directorate of Technical Education to introduce the Oracle Academy program in 100 polytechnic institutes in Karnataka.

The Oracle Academy will be supplying a $5.4 million in-kind grant to provide curriculum, software and professional development over the next two years. In the first phase, fifty polytechnic institutes will teach the Oracle course in spring the semester of 2007.

With this agreement, Oracle Academy in India now involves over 30,000 students in over 200 educational institutions receiving $255 million in in-kind grants.

The Oracle Academy currently serves 6,675 students in 267 schools in countries across the Asia Pacific region, including in China, Hong Kong and India. Through other education initiatives, Oracle provides access to Oracle technologies and resources for over 200,000 students in the region.

Arizona State University is down with Oracle, as the big company has announced ASU’s implementation of Oracle’s PeopleSoft Enterprise Student Administration and PeopleSoft Enterprise Customer Relationship Management for Higher Education.

The implementation is the first stage of an extensive overall enterprise resource planning system initiative. ASU is in the early stages of a ten-year plan to expand in scope and size, while simultaneously raising academic quality. The ASU brain trust has a goal to make ASU “The New American University,” providing quality, accessible education, and producing a highly educated workforce to generate economic growth. In the next 15 years, the university hopes to increase enrollment by some 56 percent from its already fourth-largest status.

PeopleSoft Enterprise applications will be implemented throughout the next thirteen months in areas of student administration, human resources and financial management processes. With the massive project, the Sun Devils seek to improve service to students and more effectively manage the entire lifecycle. ASU is already using PeopleSoft Enterprise Recruiting and Admissions on campus, as the first part of the university’s Online Administration & Student Information System (a.k.a., naturally, OASIS). ASU currently takes in over 75,000 student applications per year.

ASU is outsourcing the implementation and hosting of the university’s PeopleSoft stuff to CedarCrestone.

In early 2007, ASU plans to complete the deployment of PeopleSoft Enterprise Student Administration with the launch of the modules for student records, registration and financial aid. In spring and summer of 2007, the university will further streamline business processes with the deployment of Oracle’s PeopleSoft Enterprise Human Capital Management and PeopleSoft Enterprise Performance Management. ASU plans to complete the implementation of the full ERP system at the beginning of the fall 2007 school year.

Even though Oracle is throwing around a billion dollars and even though the company will make its forecasted revenue targets, IT News is reporting that Oracle’s December 18th release of quarterly results might not be all that hot. In fact, IT News opines, “Oracle investors are assuming the crash position in anticipation … after several sources warned that Oracle will fall significantly short of its technology division (i.e. database) sales expectations.”

In fact, Oracle has been witnessing a selling off of its stock in recent days. Last Monday, MSN Money reported that Oracle shares had dropped five percent in value – its largest fall in a year – because “Lehman Brothers Inc. analyst Israel Hernandez said earlier that Oracle’s North American database sales were probably less than estimated. Sales were slow in the United Kingdom and France, but ‘weakness appears most pronounced in North America,’ Hernandez said, adding that second quarter sales will probably miss Lehman’s $871 million estimate.” The next day Oracle stock took another five percent hit. By Thursday, things had picked up a bit, but Oracle shares fell to close at $17.88 on the NYSE, representing a seven percent drop from Monday’s price.

In the last quarter (ending August 2006 and representing first quarter for Oracle fiscal year 2007), Oracle Corporation report a profit, thanks to some US $20 billion in acquisitions. Oracle’s numbers rose approximately 19 percent to a total profit of about US $881 million, as reported by Goldman, Sachs & Co.’s Rick Sherlund. According to Bloomberg’s online edition, “In June, the company forecast net income for the quarter ended Aug. 31 would rise to as much as US $591.7 million or 11 cents a share, from US $519 million, or 10 cents, a year earlier.”

Last week, Oracle made waves in the industry by proposing another huge-money would-be acquisition, that of i-flex Solutions Ltd. Oracle has announced the company would put up $1.3 billion for outstanding shares; Oracle wants 90 percent interest in the company.

Such a massive outpouring would seem to indicate continued success, but as the IT World piece notes, “Distinguishing Oracle’s bluster from business reality is frequently a tricky task for those tracking the company.” The IT World piece goes on to discuss the recent Red Hat brouhaha with “Oracle knocked Red Hat’s business for a loop two months ago when it announced that it would compete with Red Hat for support contracts for Red Hat Linux. It’s too early to know how that move will affect Oracle’s bottom line (or Red Hat’s), but a recent study suggests the gambit may pay off for Oracle more as a marketing ploy than a new business segment.”

For the second quarter in the fiscal year, Oracle had predicted a software license revenue increase of 15 to 20 percent over last year, and an overall software revenue increase of 19 to 21 percent. These targets are expected to be met.

Stacy Cowley’s “Soft database sales could dent Oracle, analysts warn” can be read in full at ITNews.com.au.

Well, now, that’s more like it. Has anyone noticed how acquisition-hungry Oracle has been silent lately? No more. Oracle closed out the week raising a previously made off for most of India-based software firm i-flex Solutions Ltd.

Oracle has announced they’ll be putting up $1.3 billion; Oracle wants a big 90 percent of the company. Last year, Oracle acquired a 41 percent stake in i-flex from Orbitech Ltd. At week’s beginning, Oracle offered approximately $913 million for the same shares. Stated Oracle CEO Larry Ellison emphatically on Friday: “There will not be another open offer and Oracle will not undertake a delisting for at least the next five years unless i-flex shares are selling at a significantly lower price than they are today. This is the last opportunity for i-flex shareholders to tender their shares to Oracle." All right, then.

This offer will close on December 23. DSP Merrill Lynch is acting as a manager of the open offer.

The effect of the news on i-flex stock and the Indian stock market was tremendous. i-flex stock jumped 18 percent at the news of the raise in offer. On June 8, i-flex stock bottomed out, to trade at its 52-week low, but the stock has gained nearly 150 percent in six months. In November, i-flex stock jumped 33 percent and in the first week of December alone, 22.08 percent.

Back on October 11, i-flex attempted to count Oracle as a partner (and increase stock value, to be sure, which the firm did) when the two announced a plan to combine the business and IT architectural leadership of IBM in banks, banking-specific application solutions from Oracle with core banking and risk solutions from i-flex. The companies announced the launch of Flexcube, i-flex’s newest retail banking product, on the IBM System z mainframe platform.

i-flex Solutions provides IT product, custom solutions and consulting services to the financial services industry, with more than 660 customers in over 120 countries.

Tech Target has made available a podcast from Ed Abbo, Oracle vice president of CRM. Abbo touches upon future plans for Siebel 8.0, on integrating Siebel with Oracle-branded CRM applications, regarding “the emergence of hosted contact centers,” and generally about the future of the CRM market.

The podcast can be downloaded here.
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