Latest on Oracle: News, Features, Opinions and More 

CIOs bemoan lock-in and the 'false flexibility' of the cloud
Despite the promise of portability from service providers, the reality of the cloud for big customers is a similar type of lock-in as they experience with on-premise apps vendors such as Oracle and SAP, two CIOs said Tuesday.

Java 7 Update fixes 40 security issues, turns on certificate revocation check
Oracle addressed 40 security issues in Java and enabled online certificate revocation checking by default in its scheduled critical patch update for Java on Tuesday.

Oracle's Q4 results: What to expect
Many eyes in the tech world will fall on Oracle later this week, when the vendor's fourth-quarter results are set for release. This is typically the biggest reporting period for Oracle each year in terms of revenue, but a number of questions loom beyond its top-line performance.

Oracle to ship 40 security fixes for Java SE
Oracle is set to release a patch set for Java SE that targets 40 security vulnerabilities.

FDA calls on medical device makers to focus on cybersecurity
Medical device makers should take new steps to protect their products from malware and cyberattacks or face the possibility that the U.S. Food and Drug Administration won't approve their devices for use.

Oracle releases Java EE 7 with eye on HTML5 development
Oracle has announced the availability of Java Platform Enterprise Edition 7, a release that brings new capabilities for HTML5-based application development to the framework.

BI software market growth rate slowed in 2012
The business intelligence software market cooled off a bit in 2012 after "a few historic banner years" of spending growth, due to difficult economic conditions and confusion over industry buzzwords such as "big data," according to analyst firm Gartner.

SAP buys e-commerce vendor Hybris in strike back at Oracle, Salesforce.com
SAP is buying privately held Hybris in a bid to build out an e-commerce software offering that connects with customers across multiple "channels, devices and touch points."

Dell, Oracle form strategic partnership for integrated systems
Dell and Oracle will integrate hardware and software for customers through a strategic partnership, the companies announced on Tuesday.

Salesforce.com aims for next $1 billion business with ExactTarget buy
Salesforce.com's pending US$2.5 billion purchase of marketing software vendor ExactTarget will help it develop a new $1 billion annual revenue stream and set the company on a clear strategic course for the foreseeable future, according to Salesforce.com CEO Marc Benioff.

Oracle reveals plans for Java security improvements
Oracle plans to make changes to strengthen the security of Java, including fixing its certificate revocation checking feature, preventing unsigned applets from being executed by default and adding centralized management options with whitelisting capabilities for enterprise environments.

Computer scientists oppose Oracle's bid to copyright Java APIs
Nearly three dozen computer scientists have signed off on a court brief opposing Oracle's effort to copyright its Java APIs, a move they say would hold back the computer industry and deny affordable technology to end users.

Google wants software vendors to respond to vulnerabilities within 7 days
Google wants vendors to fix or offer mitigation advice for previously unknown and actively exploited software vulnerabilities within seven days of their discovery.

Oracle, managed services provider to settle suit over third-party support
Oracle and managed services provider ServiceKey have come to a proposed settlement of an intellectual-property lawsuit Oracle filed against the company last year.

The whole enchilada: Integrated compute platforms steamroll across IT
Vendors are rebuilding the mainframe with converged infrastructure, collapsed kit or integrated compute platforms -- whatever you want to call it. And customers are loving it.

Oracle renumbers Java patch updates, confuses users even more
Oracle has changed the numbering of its Java security updates, prompting one expert to say, "As if Java updates weren't confusing already."

7 steps to securing Java
Java, the popular OS-independent platform and programming language, runs on just about every kind of electronic device imaginable, including computers, cell phones, printers, TVs, DVDs, home security systems, automated teller machines, navigation systems, games and medical devices.

Seagate unleashes first consumer SSD; enterprise version gets blazing fast 12Gbps SAS connectivity
Seagate Technology today announced its new portfolio of flash-memory devices, taking the wraps off its first consumer SSD and its next generation of enterprise models.

Oracle lands $100M ERP project covering 34 colleges
Oracle has won a US$100 million ERP project that will replace legacy systems at 34 colleges in Washington state, in a deal that highlights the continued relevance of its PeopleSoft product as it tries to convince customers to adopt its next-generation Fusion Applications.

Gartner: Worldwide CRM revenue grew 12.5 percent in 2012
Global CRM (customer relationship management) revenue grew 12.5 percent last year to US$18 billion, a rate three times that of all enterprise software segments on average, as companies look to acquire more business and serve existing customers better, according to a new Gartner report.

Recently patched Java flaw already targeted in mass attacks
A recently patched Java remote code execution vulnerability is already being exploited by cybercriminals in mass attacks to infect computers with scareware, security researchers warn.

Serious flaw present in latest Java Runtime Environment for desktops and servers, researchers say
Java vulnerability hunters from Polish security research firm Security Explorations claim to have found a new vulnerability that affects the latest desktop and server versions of the Java Runtime Environment (JRE).

Salesforce.com launches Social.com advertising platform
Salesforce.com is taking steps to combine its acquisitions in social media monitoring and social advertising with its core CRM (customer relationship management) software through a new product called Social.com.

SAP and Oracle winners as software growth slows, IDC says
A growing interest in big data, analytics and cloud computing helped propel a weak software enterprise market last year, according to research from IDC. SAP and Oracle fared the best among the large software vendors.

Infor launches version 10x, plans IBM SmartCloud launch for its apps
Infor is hoping a new social collaboration tool, updated middleware and user interfaces, as well as options for cloud-based deployments, will help cement its place as one of the industry's largest ERP (enterprise resource planning) vendors after SAP and Oracle.

Java security questions answered
Most of the products tested (except Windows Server 2012), use Oracle's Java in one form or another, at least for client access and also in some cases within the management interface. With numerous vulnerabilities recently discovered in Java, leading to guidance from Department of Homeland Security and others to disable it entirely, this raised some questions about usability and possibly even security of the devices tested.

Java 8 release delayed until 2014
The new version of standard Java was due this September, but the need for more work on security issues and Project Lambda have pushed the release date back to the first quarter of 2014

SAP's first quarter: The key questions
SAP will announce its first-quarter 2013 earnings on Friday, a report that will get heavy scrutiny from company watchers. Here's a look at some of the more important topics that should come up during SAP executives' conference calls with press and analysts on Friday.

Java 7 Update 21 to fix bugs, change applet warning messages
Oracle will release a new version of Java on Tuesday that will include 42 security fixes and will make changes to how Web-based Java content will be presented inside browsers.

Oracle's Mark Hurd talks Fusion Applications, customer satisfaction and SAP's HANA
As co-president of Oracle, Mark Hurd is tasked with selling an ever-increasing array of new software and hardware products, such as the Exadata database machine and Fusion Applications, while figuring out how to keep the company's vast installed base happy and fending off competition from the likes of SAP.

Oracle wants to be easier to work with, Mark Hurd says
Oracle's sales force isn't usually seen as the easiest to work with, with customers bombarded by multiple account representatives from different product areas.

Oracle-HP court battle over Itanium delayed indefinitely
Oracle and Hewlett-Packard's ongoing legal battle over software for Itanium has run into another delay, and this time there's no telling how long it will last.

Oracle rolls out new in-memory applications, scaled-down Big Data Appliance
Oracle is planning to release a series of applications that take advantage of in-memory computing, a move that will up the competitive ante between itself and SAP.

Group led by Microsoft, Nokia takes aim at Android with EU complaint
The FairSearch coalition, whose members include Microsoft, Nokia and Oracle, has filed a complaint with the European Commission against Google and Android, saying that the company is using the OS as a Trojan horse to deceive partners and monopolize the mobile marketplace.

Oracle expands data sources for business intelligence software
Oracle has revised two of its business intelligence products, giving users the ability to wrest intelligence from a wider range of data sources, including spreadsheets, social media sites and Hadoop deployments.

Oracle updates Primavera project portfolio management software
Oracle has rolled out a series of upgrades and new features for the PPM (project portfolio management) software suite it gained through the 2008 acquisition of Primavera.

Oracle strategies to get real-world verdict at Collaborate user event
Oracle's sprawling annual OpenWorld conference doesn't kick off until September, but next week the Oracle user group-backed Collaborate event will be held in Denver.

Oracle brings data center fabric to Sparc systems
Oracle has extended its data center fabric to its Sparc-based Unix platforms, promising to let enterprises tie more servers and applications into the high-speed infrastructure.

Marketo IPO may spark suitors, including Salesforce.com
Cloud-based marketing automation vendor Marketo's plans to raise up to $75 million in an initial public offering, which were revealed this week, could influence larger companies to acquire the company, including Salesforce.com and SAP.

Epicor suit claims services firm hijacked its ERP software
Epicor is suing IT service provider Alternative Technology Solutions, claiming the company illegally used its ERP (enterprise resource planning) software in order to develop and sell add-ons and services, in a case that has parallels to tussles over third-party software maintenance.

Enterprise apps get social
Combining the ad-hoc nature of social media with the more structured world of enterprise apps such as CRM is often the best of both worlds, implementers say.

With new Sparc systems, Oracle begins shift to single chip architecture
Oracle has announced a batch of servers based on new Sparc processors and in the process has begun an expected shift toward converging its two families of Unix servers onto a single chip architecture.

Most Java-enabled browsers vulnerable to widespread Java exploits, Websense says
Most browser installations use outdated versions of the Java plug-in that are vulnerable to at least one of several exploits used in popular Web attack toolkits, according to security vendor Websense.

Oracle buying Tekelec for network signaling software
Oracle is filling out its product stack for communications with the acquisition of Tekelec, which provides network signaling, policy control and subscriber data management software for mobile data networks. Terms of the deal, which is expected to close in the first half of this year, were not disclosed.

Oracle's storage business falters as market slows in Q4, says Gartner
Oracle suffered the most as growth in the storage market continued to slow during the end of 2012. Hewlett-Packard, Dell and IBM also struggled while EMC emerged as the big winner.

Jack Gold: Has BYOD peaked?
Expect enterprises to start instituting stricter policies to make BYOD a more secure and cost-effective policy.

Oracle's new software, cloud revenue dropped 2 percent in Q3
Oracle's total revenue dipped 1 percent and profits remained almost flat in its most recent quarter, as revenue from new software licenses and cloud services dropped by 2 percent.

Microsoft targets enterprise with Dynamics AX ERP
Microsoft hoped recent updates to its Dynamics AX 2012 ERP software would help it grab enterprise-level deals that would ordinarily be won by the likes of Oracle and SAP. To some degree, the strategy appears to be clicking.

Microsoft boosts Dynamics CRM with marketing, social media analysis
Microsoft is hoping to shove aside rivals such as Salesforce.com and Oracle in the CRM software market by linking its own Dynamics CRM application with new capabilities for marketing automation and social media analysis.

HP's Itanium secrets cost us $95 million, Oracle says
Hewlett-Packard misled IT buyers about plans to phase out its Itanium server platform and in the process stole potential sales from Oracle and other rivals, costing Oracle about US$95 million in profits, the company plans to testify in a jury trial starting next month.

HP eyes $4B damages claim in Itanium case against Oracle
Hewlett-Packard may seek damages of US$4 billion to $4.2 billion from Oracle in its lawsuit over support for Itanium server architecture.

Apple CEO Tim Cook's approval rating drops
Apple CEO Tim Cook's approval rating fell in the last 12 months, dropping Steve Jobs' successor to the 18th spot on an annual ranking of American chief executives.

Apple updates Mountain Lion, patches Safari
Apple yesterday updated OS X Mountain Lion for the first time in six months, patching 14 security vulnerabilities and addressing a host of other issues.

IDC: Big data hype still here, but maturity beckons
Few tech industry buzzwords have gotten as vigorous a workout as "big data," but while the hype remains plentiful, it is starting to give way to real-life successes as well as formal ways companies can develop big data strategies, according to a number of IDC analysts.

Java's security problems unlikely to be resolved soon, researchers say
Since the start of the year, hackers have been exploiting vulnerabilities in Java to carry out a string of attacks against companies including Microsoft, Apple, Facebook and Twitter, as well as home users. Oracle has made an effort to respond faster to the threats and to strengthen its Java software, but security experts say the attacks are unlikely to let up any time soon.

Oracle acquires Nimbula for hybrid cloud software
With the intent of rounding out its software stack for building hybrid clouds, Oracle is acquiring Nimbula, a provider of private cloud infrastructure management software.

Oracle, Montclair State University settle lawsuit over PeopleSoft software project
A nearly two-year-long, ugly legal battle between Oracle and Montclair State University over a troubled PeopleSoft ERP (enterprise resource planning) project has ended in a settlement both sides are calling amicable.

Infor says push into middleware is clicking
Infor, the software industry's third-largest ERP vendor after SAP and Oracle, has been building out its own underlying technology platform in a bid to gain more revenue as well as provide customers with easier integration and system management. The company maintains that strategy is clicking as its ION middleware has become the fastest-growing product in the vendor's history.

Pwn2Own hacking contest winds down after paying a record $480K
A day after researchers hacked Chrome and Firefox at the Pwn2Own contest, Google and Mozilla patched their browsers Thursday.

Cloud computing's big debt to NASA
IBM's decision this week to base its cloud services on OpenStack may help establish this open source platform as the standard in enterprises.

Oracle targets Salesforce.com with Social Relationship Management tools
Oracle first announced its Social Relationship Management product family several months ago at OpenWorld, but has now taken steps to actually integrate the components of the product set, which it gained through a number of acquisitions over the past year.

Researchers rake in $280K at Pwn2Own hacking contest
Research teams Wednesday cracked Microsoft's Internet Explorer 10 (IE10), Google's Chrome and Mozilla's Firefox at the Pwn2Own hacking contest, pulling in more than $250,000 in prizes.

Oracle adds virtualization, boosts speed of Database Appliance
Oracle has rolled out version X3-2 of its Database Appliance for small and medium-sized businesses that it says delivers up to twice the speed and more than four times as much storage as the first edition, which was launched in 2011.

Oracle pulls Java 6 plug, but Apple likely to keep patching OS X Snow Leopard
Apple on Monday patched Java 6 for OS X, following Oracle's lead and quashing a browser plug-in vulnerability that hackers have been exploiting.

Oracle releases emergency fix for Java zero-day exploit
Oracle released emergency patches for Java on Monday to address two critical vulnerabilities, one of which is actively being exploited by hackers in targeted attacks.

Researchers link latest Java zero-day exploit to Bit9 hack
The attacks discovered last week that exploited a previously unknown Java vulnerability were likely launched by the same attackers that previously targeted security firm Bit9 and its customers, according to researchers from antivirus vendor Symantec.

HP halfway through restructuring, 15K layoffs to go
HP has reached the halfway point in its restructuring, with 15,000 employees left to cut to meet its layoff target by the end of next year, according to CEO Meg Whitman.

Oracle ports DTrace to Oracle Linux
Oracle has ported one of its most coveted Solaris tools to the Linux platform, a real-time debugging tool called DTrace, though the company has made it officially available only for its own Oracle Linux distribution.

Researchers warn of new Java exploit being used by attackers
A new exploit for a previously unknown and unpatched Java vulnerability is being actively used by attackers to infect computers with malware, according to researchers from security firm FireEye.

Internal document suggests SAP's goal of simplifying licensing will be a tall order
SAP customers have made it no secret they believe the vendor's software licensing and pricing is too complex, and a top company leader recently made a public pledge that things are changing for the better. But a recently created internal SAP document obtained by IDG News Service suggests that the company has its work cut out for it.

Cisco joins top 5 server vendors for the first time, IDC says
Cisco Systems has entered the list of the top 5 server vendors for the first time, drawing level with Fujitsu and Oracle in a tie for fourth place, research firm IDC said on Wednesday.

New bill would require loser to pay in some patent lawsuits
Two U.S. lawmakers have introduced legislation that would require a losing plaintiff to pay legal costs in many patent infringement lawsuits, in an effort to discourage so-called patent trolls from filing court cases.

Oracle CEO Larry Ellison buys Hawaiian airline
Oracle CEO Larry Ellison has added a local airline to his Hawaiian holdings, following his purchase last year of Lanai, one of the state's islands.

Adobe springs emergency Flash update, says hackers hitting Firefox
Adobe today patched new vulnerabilities in Flash Player that hackers are now exploiting in attacks aimed at Firefox users, the company said.

Researcher unearths two new Java zero-day bugs
A Polish security firm known for rooting out Java vulnerabilities has reported two new bugs in the browser plug-in to Oracle, Security Explorations said today.

Oracle ramping up marketing software battle with Salesforce.com
Oracle has laid in out in detail how it intends to compete with the likes of Salesforce.com in the highly competitive arena for next-generation marketing software.

Software firms defend patents in D.C.
Software patents, facing new scrutiny in the U.S., drive innovation and protect huge investments by developers, representatives of software companies said during a Capitol Hill briefing.

Oracle updates NetBeans for HTML5
With the release of version 7.3 of NetBeans, Oracle has updated the integrated developer environment so Java developers can more easily build rich HTML5-based user interfaces for their mobile and Web applications.

Oracle to move some manufacturing jobs from Mexico to Oregon
Oracle is moving 130 manufacturing jobs from Mexico to Oregon, a company spokeswoman said.

Many companies likely affected by iOS developer forum compromise
The administrators of a popular iOS developer Web forum called iPhoneDevSDK confirmed Wednesday that it had been compromised by hackers who used it to launch attacks against its users. Security experts believe the site served as a gateway for the recent attacks against Twitter, Facebook and Apple employees and that many other companies might be affected as well.

Apple ships Java update, malware scrubber after confirming attacks on own Macs
The day it acknowledged company-owned Macs had been hacked using a "drive-by" Java exploit, Apple on Tuesday patched the Oracle software for older systems and released a malware detection tool.

Oracle releases new Java fixes, speeds up patching cycle
Oracle released new Java security updates on Tuesday and announced plans to accelerate the release of future Java patches following recent attacks that have infected computers with malware by exploiting zero-day vulnerabilities in Java browser plug-ins.

Microsoft, EMC, NetApp join Oracle's legal fight against Google on Java
Microsoft, EMC and NetApp have joined an appeal by Oracle against an earlier decision in a copyright and patent infringement lawsuit against Google over Android.

Oracle sale of Lustre welcomed by HPC users
Oracle has sold assets related to the Lustre parallel distributed file system to high-performance computing storage vendor Xyratex, which has pledged to lead further development of the software in its current collaborative open-source environment.

Oracle blasts Forrester report on Fusion Applications adoption
Oracle is firing back hard at a recently released Forrester Research report that suggested most customers aren't interested in moving up to the vendor's next-generation Fusion Applications, which were released about a year-and-a-half ago following a long and expensive development process.

Oracle contests Google's 'fair use' of Java code in appeal
An appeals court should rule, as a matter of law, that Google's commercial use of Java in a market where Oracle already competed was not fair use, the software company said in a filing.

Oracle faces 'strategic dilemma' with Fusion Applications
Oracle spent years developing its next-generation Fusion Applications and finally put them into general availability nearly a year-and-a-half ago, but some new evidence suggests that it's been less than successful at enticing customers to move up.

Oracle to release yet more patches for Java
Oracle isn't done releasing patches for Java SE this month, as another batch will arrive Feb. 19, according to a company blog post.

Ex-partner charges Oracle with waging 'systematic attack' against third-party support
Former Oracle partner CedarCrestone is alleging the vendor has engaged in an "unlawful and systematic attack" against the third-party support market and has a monopoly on support revenue.

Microsoft preps monster security update for next week
Microsoft will issue 12 security updates next week, including two for Internet Explorer, that will patch a near-record 57 vulnerabilities in the browser, Windows, Office and the enterprise-critical Exchange Server email software.

OS X Snow Leopard stubbornly rejects retirement
Apple's OS X Snow Leopard, which shipped in August 2009, continued to resist retirement last month, new data from Web analytics vendor Net Applications showed.

MySQL 5.6 tackles NoSQL competitors
With MySQL 5.6, released Tuesday, Oracle has updated the open-source database to make it more competitive with NoSQL data stores such as MariaDB or Cassandra.

Apple, Oracle restore Java on OS X
Apple on Friday shipped an update to Java 6 for Mac users running OS X Snow Leopard, matching Oracle's cadence for Java 7, which was patched the same day.

SAP to hike Standard Support fees on new contracts
SAP is planning to impose a higher price on its Standard Support software maintenance offering later this year, with the increase applying only to new contracts.

Oracle releases Java patch update
The February patch was offered today -- ahead of schedule -- and contains fixes for 50 vulnerabilities

Oracle loses appeal of ruling in HP suit
A court has rejected Oracle's appeal of a judge's ruling in the lawsuit Hewlett-Packard brought over Oracle's decision to stop porting its software to HP's Itanium server platform.

Oracle database 12c close to general release, sources say
The general availability of Oracle's long-awaited, next-generation 12c database will likely occur within weeks or possibly even days, the IDG News Service has learned.

Salesforce.com 'aggressively investigating' database error
Salesforce.com is "aggressively investigating" a database software error that led to temporary performance problems in part of its infrastructure.

BaaS: It's a crowded (and young) market
Back-end as a service offers standard features to drop into your apps, so your developers can spend their time on the most strategic pieces.

Speed up mobile app-dev with back-end as a service
Vendors offer code drop-ins that standardize common mobile features, including messaging and payment, so your in-house developers can focus on the functions that are most important to your business.

Our bloggers on Oracle 

There are a dozen known flaws in Java

Oracle released a new version of Java less than a week ago. Yet, there are already a dozen known, un-patched bugs in this latest release (Java 7 update 17). Didn't take long. It never does.

Apple closes Java hack, and why it's time to switch Java off

The Apple critics are dancing their dance once again today following news of a Java-based malware attack on Macs. But, given Java is the bad boy in the room, shouldn't critics and Kool-Aid drinkers alike just do the right thing and switch Java off for good?

New Java from Oracle. Whoopee. Update ASAP.

Oracle today released updates to both Java 7 and Java 6. These updates fix a ton of security flaws and were rushed out the door because at least one flaw was being actively attacked. Anyone running Java on Windows, Linux. Solaris or OS X Lion and Mountain Lion should update as soon as possible.  Apple also updated their copy of Java 6 for Snow Leopard users.

Yet another Java security flaw discovered - Number 53

Understanding the new security in Java 7 Update 11

Oracle patches Java 7 security flaw with Update 11

Oracle just released Java 7 Update 11 to fix the latest Java security flaw. 

How to be as safe as possible with Java

Everything you ever wanted to know about the latest Java security flaw and how to live with Java as safely as possible. 

Ban Java NOW? Yet another zero-day rears its ugly head.

Another quarter, another Java zero-day. Oracle (NASDAQ:ORCL) is staying silent over confirmed sightings of a 'widely exploited,' unpatched security hole in Java. In IT Blogwatch, bloggers fall over themselves to tell us to just uninstall it already.

Choosing between Java version 6 or 7

When it comes to Java, the latest is probably not the greatest.

The ugly side of the latest Java updates

It's all over the news that Java was just updated to fix a huge number of bugs. But a very big flaw remains. And, Java still defaults to self-updating once a month. No big deal? It is for Windows users, since modifying this is not at all straightforward. Mac users on Lion and Mountain Lion are also in a new ugly situation with Java.

Another critical Java vulnerability puts 1 billion users at risk

Yet another new critical Java vulnerability was discovered by researchers at Security Explorations. This Java bug is even worse than the last and puts one billion users of Oracle’s Java SE (Java 5, 6 and 7) at risk. It could be exploited using these browsers: Chrome, Firefox, Internet Explorer, Opera and Safari. If you visit a malicious website, attackers who exploit this Java bug could gain total control of your PC. Here's my interview with Adam Gowdiak, CEO of Security Exploration, the firm that disclosed this newest critical Java flaw.

Despite new patch, Java 7 is still dangerous. Go with version 6.

Just hours after Oracle released a patch to Java 7, it has been found to be buggy again. It's Groundhog Day (the movie). 

Oracle emergency Java patch delights and confuses

Stung by yesterday's criticism of its tardyness in patching critical vulnerabilities in Java, Oracle (NASDAQ:ORCL) issues an out-of-cycle update. But questions remain. In IT Blogwatch, bloggers shake their heads.

Java security flaw: yada yada yada

What you need to know about the latest (in a long line) of Java security flaws. 

Java zero-days take SIX MONTHS to patch? SRSLY, Oracle?

There are some zero-day vulnerabilities in Java that are already being exploited. However, these aren't new bugs: Oracle (NASDAQ:ORCL) has known about them since early April, and doesn't plan to fix them until October. In IT Blogwatch, bloggers wonder why it takes six months to fix critical security holes.

• All Oracle Blogs