Latest on Oracle: News, Features, Opinions and More  EU gives Oracle extra time to respond to Sun inquiry
Oracle and Sun Microsystems have been granted an extra week to defend their planned $7 billion merger in front of European regulators, the European Commission said. Open-source virtualization: Who's biting?
Despite its fans, the overall market for open-source virtualization remains tiny, though it's growing. The Future of ERP, Part II
Got Data? Making Sense of It All How enterprises can (gently) squeeze their vendors during the recession
Enterprises can use the recession to transform their relationships with vendors without trashing them, while saving some or a lot of money to boot. AMD and Intel patch things up, HP buys 3Com
We had a blockbuster deal this week, with Hewlett-Packard saying it plans to buy 3Com, and a blockbuster settlement, with Advanced Micro Devices and Intel ending a long-running legal dispute. By midnight tonight, Google, the Authors Guild and the Association of American Publishers are supposed to file a revised book-search settlement proposal, which could add to our top stories list for the week. For now, though, what follows are our top IT headlines of the moment. SAP: Outreach to Oracle about Java, not help with Sun deal
SAP said it contacted Oracle and its CEO, Larry Ellison, in recent months over concerns about the future of the Java programming language and competition in the database market, not to offer help facilitating Oracle's purchase of Sun Microsystems, which is being held up by a European antitrust review. Oracle support portal woes could erode users' trust
Oracle's seemingly botched migration to a new My Oracle Support portal this week has users worldwide hopping mad over what they are calling severe performance and access issues. Users call new Oracle support portal a 'fiasco'
A number of Oracle users are infuriated by reported access and performance issues with the vendor's new My Oracle Support portal, which superseded the long-standing Metalink site on Nov. 6. EU rebuffs Oracle's criticism of Sun merger investigation
In an unusually blunt rebuff, the European Commission has dismissed as "facile and superficial" criticism of its decision to issue formal objections to Oracle's planned acquisition of Sun Microsystems. Microsoft, Novell say alliance still bearing fruit
The alliance between Microsoft Corp. and Novell Corp. continues to bear fruit three years after it was first signed, say the two companies, one the world's largest proprietary software vendor and the other one of the largest of open-source software. EU issues objections to Oracle's Sun acquisition
The European Commission has issued its formal "statement of objections" over Oracle's planned acquisition of Sun Microsystems, Sun said in a regulatory filing Monday. EU issues objections to Oracle's Sun acquisition
The European Commission has issued its formal "statement of objections" over Oracle's planned acquisition of Sun Microsystems, Sun said in a regulatory filing Monday. Brocade, Oracle partner for database, SAN connectivity
Brocade and Oracle introduced a variety of solutions designed specifically for use with Oracle database and applications. Based on existing partnerships with NetApp, Sun/StorageTek and EMC, Brocade and Oracle have put together end-to-end networking packages for data warehousing, business applications and virtualization environments. Report: SAP CEO asked Ellison for meeting on Sun-EU impasse
Shortly after European regulators opened an antitrust probe into Oracle's pending acquisition of Sun Microsystems, SAP CEO Léo Apotheker wrote Oracle CEO Larry Ellison, asking for a meeting to discuss the merger and "other open issues" between the vendors, according to a report. Oracle plans aggressive fight with EU over Sun takeover
Oracle is planning an aggressive fight with European regulators if its attempt to take over Sun is slapped with a statement of objections in the coming week, said people close to the company Wednesday. Big IT is back, say HP, IBM, Oracle, EMC, Cisco
A certain truth about the big IT vendors is they want to sell as much as possible to any one customer and now, with virtualization, cloud computing and very tight IT budgets, they believe they have an opening. Microsoft correctly predicts reliable exploits just 27% of the time
Microsoft's monthly predictions about whether hackers will create reliable exploit code for its bugs were right only about a quarter of the time in the first half of 2009, the company acknowledged Monday. Microsoft sets SQL Server 2008 R2 preview
Microsoft this month will release another CTP of SQL Server 2008 R2, this one features complete, and including new business intelligence integration tools and master data management features. Five Questions with NetSuite's CFO
A high-tech CFO who makes sales calls? It's all in a day's work for NetSuite CFO Jim McGeever. Here's his take on how SaaS is beating big vendor FUD, the Larry Ellison effect, and the future of business apps. Droid and Android, ICANN votes, Win 7 residue
The world got another smartphone this week with Motorola's Droid, available from Verizon. Google rolled out Android 2.0 as well. The Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers finally voted to allow non-Latin characters in domain names, and Windows 7 news continued apace, among other things. So read on and Happy Halloween everyone (see number 10). Oracle sheds new light on future of Sun technologies
Oracle has provided new details about its plans for certain key Sun Microsystems technologies, including the GlassFish application server and the NetBeans application development toolkit. Many open-sourcers back an Oracle takeover of MySQL
Some open source advocates say that Oracle's pending acquisition of Sun Microsystems probably won't adversely affect current and future users of the MySQL open source database. With eye on Oracle and MySQL, Red Hat invests in EnterpriseDB
Red Hat Inc. has invested an unspecified amount in open-source database vendor EnterpriseDB Inc., a sign the Linux vendor may be worried about Oracle Corp.'s takeover of MySQL through its pending acquisition of Sun Microsystems Inc. EU chides Oracle over probe of Sun deal
Europe's head of competition has criticized Oracle for what she characterized as a lack of cooperation over the investigation of Oracle's planned acquisition of Sun Microsystems, a spokesman for the European Commission said. EU chides Oracle over probe of Sun deal
Europe's head of competition has criticized Oracle for what she characterized as a lack of cooperation over the investigation of Oracle's planned acquisition of Sun Microsystems, a spokesman for the European Commission said. Sun to cut 3,000 jobs as Oracle awaits approval for deal
Sun Microsystems will lay off up to 3,000 workers over the next 12 months as Oracle awaits approval from European regulators for its acquisition of the company. Teradata: We still rule over Oracle, IBM in analytics
Business intelligence vendor Teradata is unfazed by recent saber-rattling on the part of Oracle and IBM, saying the vendors' respective technologies remain fundamentally unsuited for high-performance analytics. Teradata announcements focus on public, private clouds
Teradata unveiled a range of data warehousing products and initiatives on Monday, including new public and private cloud deployment options and an upcoming appliance that employs solid-state disks. MySQL cofounder says Oracle should sell database
Oracle should resolve antitrust concerns over its acquisition of Sun Microsystems by selling open-source database MySQL to a suitable third party, its cofounder and creator Michael "Monty" Widenius said. 38 Oracle security patches coming next week
After a record-setting week of Microsoft and Adobe security patches, Oracle is gearing up for a major update of its own next week. Sidekick data loss, Cisco buying spree
There was a little bit of everything this week -- Sidekick users got a nasty surprise, Cisco made another acquisition, Oracle had its big user conference while questions lingered regarding the effect its plan to buy Sun will have, Biz Stone insisted he doesn't want to sell Twitter, and the world prepared for the launch of Windows 7 next week even as administrators grumbled their way through a monster patch Tuesday. OpenWorld Wrap-Up: The Best and Worst from San Francisco
Oracle's annual OpenWorld conference is over, and CIO.com has rounded up all of the important news, announcements, blog posts and tweets that came out of the annual high-tech get-together in San Francisco. Reporter's Notebook: Oracle OpenWorld 2009
Highlights and lowlights from this year's show: Cloud talk eclipsed by real-life rain, too many #oow09 tweets, not enough specifics about Fusion or Java plans, and an action-packed visit by California Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger. CIO.com's Thomas Wailgum shares his favorite tidbits from the Ellison extravaganza. Five Problems Keeping Legacy Apps Out of the Cloud
Did you think all those legacy apps would just float up into someone else's cloud infrastructure? Management, licensing and migration concerns highlight the list of troubles that vendors are now trying to address. Ellison: Fusion Applications in 2010
Oracle plans to launch its long-awaited Fusion Applications in 2010, and they will be deployable both on-premises and as SaaS (software as a service), CEO Larry Ellison said Wednesday during a keynote address at the OpenWorld conference in San Francisco. Ellison: Fusion Applications in 2010
Oracle plans to launch its long-awaited Fusion Applications in 2010, and they will be deployable both on-premises and as SaaS (software as a service), CEO Larry Ellison said Wednesday during a keynote address at the OpenWorld conference in San Francisco. Benioff plays nice to Oracle at OpenWorld
Attendees packed into a presentation by Salesforce.com Chairman and CEO Marc Benioff at Oracle's OpenWorld conference Tuesday, but those hoping the executive would deliver some of his trademark trash talk toward Oracle left the room disappointed. Oracle does some bragging on its technology volume
An Oracle executive at OpenWorld cited the amount of products shipped, while the company also detailed developer plans Behind Enemy Lines: Salesforce.com, Rimini Street
Both tech vendors are aiming to change the rules of game for enterprise software. And while they're going about it with two different business models, the companies share some things in common. Fate of some Sun technologies still up in the air
Despite earlier assurances that Sun's technology will live on, questions remain over Sun's app server, IDE, and cloud platform The Buzz at Oracle OpenWorld 2009
Impressions from Oracle's annual get-together: Ellison disses IBM; Where are Fusion Apps?; Charles and Safra on Red Stack integration. Oracle: 11g Xpress Edition 'a year or two' away
It may be "a year or two" before Oracle releases a no-cost Express Edition (XE) of its 11g database, according to Andrew Mendelsohn, the company's senior vice president of database server technologies. Oracle puts integration in the spotlight
Oracle may have accumulated a vast array of products, but it has also added value and tightly integrated them, executives said during a keynote address at the OpenWorld conference in San Francisco. Oracle buys technology for media IP management
Oracle has acquired "substantially all" of the assets of Sophoi, which makes software that media companies use to manage and track their intellectual property. Terms of the deal were not disclosed. Sun, Oracle chiefs vow that Sun technologies will live on
Scott McNealy and Larry Ellison offer reassurances at the OpenWorld conference that Oracle will be good for all of Sun technologies after the merger Oracle revamps partner program
Oracle announced significant changes to its partner program at the start of its annual OpenWorld conference. Microsoft and EU settle, phishing scams, busts
Capping our list of top IT news stories this week, Microsoft and the European Commission reached accord on the ongoing antitrust case against the company. While this will free up some room in future top-news lists, we expect that we'll continue to have no end of bad news related to phishing scams, of which there was plenty this week as well. Thankfully, Oracle CEO Larry Ellison added some levity to the mix, though his brand of joking undoubtedly fell flat at Salesforce.com. Oracle cedes to user gripes about support portal
Oracle has made a partial concession to users angered by its decision to retire its venerable Metalink support portal in favor of the next-generation My Oracle Support. IBM calls new DB2 grid feature an Oracle 'Exadata-killer'
IBM today unveiled a clustering feature that it says will allow the performance of its DB2 database to trump that of Oracle's flagship database. SaaS Vendors Can Win Over Customers with Honesty
How do Salesforce.com, Workday, NetSuite and others respond to unplanned outages? With the type of honesty and transparency that is critical to the future of cloud computing. Watch and learn, Big ERP. Ellison mocks Salesforce.com's 'itty bitty' application
Oracle CEO Larry Ellison mocked on-demand CRM (customer relationship management) vendor Salesforce.com during a shareholder meeting Wednesday, saying its "itty bitty" application depends on Oracle's products. BI helps New York-area hospitals track, fight H1N1
A New Jersey-based hospital chain is using a BI system to keep track of flu-like instances to help determine whether a swine flu epidemic is approaching. What to Expect at Oracle OpenWorld
Oracle's annual Kool-Aid-Fest will have some foxes in the hen house and many recession-weary customers. Can Larry Ellison possibly top his recent rant on cloud computing? Will there be more answers than questions on the Fusion Apps Suite? Report: Brocade puts itself up for sale
Storage switch maker Brocade is reportedly placing itself up for sale, according to a published report, which speculates that Hewlett-Packard and Oracle may be the most logical suitors. Test Center: SANs tuned for virtualization pack nice surprises
Compellent, Dell, HP, Pillar Data, and roll-your-own Pillar/DataCore bring strong storage management features to XenServer, VMware, and Hyper-V environments Online Matchmaker Won't Settle Down With Just One BI Tool
EHarmony uses a variety of data-crunching applications to keep members of its online matchmaking service happy. Payment clearing house VocaLink targets database speed
VocaLink has said it is addressing its own network transaction speed and uptime, to support fast and real-time payment processing, placing some of the emphasis for speed on its Oracle database. Top Microsoft execs outline 2010 challenges
Microsoft's server and tools business hopes to gain ground in the high-end database and server market in 2010, helping users move to the cloud and extending its dominance over Linux. The company also plans to focus on software-plus-services, cloud computing and browser-based apps. Unix at 40: Hanging on despite strong Linux, Windows challenges
The middle-aged OS is not expected to die any time soon, just slowly fade away SAP offers 'free' CRM for ERP buyers
SAP said midsize companies that purchase the Business All-in-One suite or SAP ERP will also receive its customer relationship management application. Genuitec preps Eclipse IDE update
MyEclipse Enterprise Workbench 8.0 features Java profiler, enterprise Web, and anti-bloat capabilities Acquire Me! Oracle's and SAP's Next Likely Targets
A new 451 Group report serves up some tasty offerings to feed a possible acquisition binge by the enterprise software supervendors. Oracle's Larry Ellison is preparing to throw a pie at IBM: The only question is who will be the whipped cream. Ellison: We won't spin off MySQL
Oracle CEO urges approval of Sun acquisition, says Oracle's database does not compete with MySQL. Users Want Answers on Oracle-Sun Future
Oracle and Sun executives remained mostly silent during last week's unveiling of a jointly developed data warehousing and OLTP appliance about the postmerger future of their product lines. License audits: Preparing now can ease the pain
Oracle licensing consultant Eliot Arlo Colon still remembers the enormous global publishing company that was "so darn confident" it would breeze through an upcoming software license audit unscathed. The new word for tech's ex-employees is 'alum'
Thanks to the economic downturn, former employees of high-tech companies are staying in touch by joining alumni groups to find jobs, business opportunities and to socialize. Oracle profits rise but sales fall in Q1
Oracle on Wednesday reported first-quarter net income rose by 4 percent year-over-year to US$1.1 billion, but revenue fell by 5 percent to $5.1 billion. Earnings per share were $0.22. The tech behind 236 eHarmony members getting hitched daily
While eHarmony Inc.'s goal is to get its 20 million members married or into long-term relationships, the online matchmaker is a downright commitment-phobe in its use of technology. Analysis: Ellison's Pillar likely get new BFF with Oracle-Sun merger
In all the hoopla over Oracle's planned $7.4 billion buyout of Sun Microsystems, little mention has been made of Pillar Data Systems, a separate storage company founded by Oracle co-founder and CEO Larry Ellison. The Problem with Mature ERP Systems
ERP systems tend to outlast the IT professionals who implement them, causing headaches for the CIOs who are subsequently brought it to integrate and upgrade them -- and manage the business side's changing expectations. Has this been tech's worst year ever?
The tech industry has suffered some of its greatest losses ever in the past 12 months. Here’s a look at the low points. Analysis: Oracle-Sun deal delivers mostly frustration
Customers and resellers of Sun systems want answers about the fate of various product lines once Oracle acquires the company. Oracle, Sun launch high-end OLTP server
Oracle has launched a high-end database and storage system that it co-developed with Sun Microsystems, the companies' first joint product since announcing their plans to merge almost five months ago. Ruby application development readied for Android
The tool set being prepared will enable the building of business apps like mail clients Oracle, Sun to launch new product despite merger hurdles
Oracle's acquisition of Sun Microsystems is being closely scrutinized by European Union regulatory authorities, but that isn't stopping the companies from making their first joint announcement since the deal was announced in April. Jobs appears, Moto's Cliq, Microsoft opens up
This is just a guess, but with a lot of the world easing out of its summertime state of mind and everybody who is sidetracked playing "The Beatles: RockBand," which came out Wednesday, the inclination for making news has remained subdued. Although Apple made a splash, with CEO Steve Jobs showing up for his first public appearance since he returned to work, and Motorola made a run at headlines, too. Midmarket ERP Customers Declining Upgrades
Midsize companies trying to standardize and rationalize their aging ERP systems while cutting their operational costs face many challenges, new Aberdeen Group research shows. Oracle breaks silence on Sun plans in ad
Oracle Corp. ended it silence Thursday on its post-merger plans for Sun Microsystems Inc.'s Unix systems in an advertisement aimed at Sun customers to keep them from leaving the Sparc and Solaris platforms. Why ERP Is Still So Hard
Steve Berg knows what intense pain feels like: The man has been Tasered, in fact-not because he ran afoul of the law, but as VP of IT at Taser International he's partaken in a corporate rite of passage. "It's the worst five seconds of your life," he says. "You cannot move." Oracle Finally Updates Its Flagship Database
Oracle launched the long-awaited Version 11g Release 2 of its flagship database, about two years after the initial version started shipping. Sun Server Sales Crashing as Oracle Deal Stumbles
Server sales plunged in the second quarter, with Sun faring the worst as its deal to be acquired by Oracle continues to experience delays. Oracle delays security updates for user conference
Oracle database administrators who are worried they might have to skip Oracle's user conference next month to fiddle with security updates can relax. Oracle is cutting them a break and releasing its next set of patches a week later than planned. EC opens deeper probe of Oracle-Sun merger
The European Commission opened an in-depth investigation into Oracle's planned $7.4 billion takeover of Sun Microsystems Thursday, citing "serious concerns" about the deal's effect on competition in the market for databases. EC opens deeper probe of Oracle-Sun merger
The European Commission opened an in-depth investigation into Oracle's planned $7.4 billion takeover of Sun Microsystems Thursday, citing "serious concerns" about the deal's effect on competition in the market for databases. European Commission to investigate Oracle-Sun deal
Europe's top antitrust authority will conduct an in-depth investigation of Oracle's planned acquisition of Sun Microsystems. Sun leads way as server sales take a record plunge in second quarter
Server sales plunged in the second quarter, with Sun faring worst as its deal to be acquired by Oracle continues to be delayed. Influence spending by tech firms unaffected by recession
Technology firms are spending as much or more than last year to lobby elected officials even as the recession has forced them to cut workers and salaries. Oracle 11g R2 makes its debut
Oracle launched version 11g Release 2 of its database, about two years after the initial version hit the market. Rally Software links Oracle Java tool to agile ALM
Rally Software Development, which offers a hosted service and on-site software for application life-cycle management for agile programming teams, is connecting its platform to Oracle's JDeveloper IDE for Java development. Oracle demands information from Rimini Street to boost SAP lawsuit
Oracle wants Rimini Street, provider of third-party support for enterprise applications, to reveal the details of its business model in connection with Oracle's ongoing intellectual-property litigation against rival SAP. DOJ approves $7.4B Oracle-Sun deal
Oracle on Thursday said the U.S. Department of Justice has approved its $7.4 billion acquisition of Sun Microsystems, although the deal is subject to certain conditions and still needs the blessing of European regulators. Forrester: SAP, others will make analytics acquisitions
IBM's recently announced plans to buy SPSS, maker of specialized analytics software, will result in a wave of further consolidation in the space, according to a new Forrester Research report. Survey finds that app dev budgets are increasing
Despite current economic uncertainty across the globe, senior-level executives and software development professionals are seeing an increase in development budgets, according to a recent survey by software development outsourcer SoftServe. Oracle 11g R2 database release coming in September
Oracle is planning to release a long-awaited update to its flagship database in September, according to a source with knowledge of its plans. Last of the red hot Sun servers
SpringSource Cloud Foundry enables Java cloud apps
Java framework builder SpringSource is set to provide enterprise Java developers a platform for cloud-based deployments with the unveiling on Tuesday of SpringSource Cloud Foundry. Oracle looks to planning apps for future growth
Oracle is devoting two full days and 70 sessions at the upcoming OpenWorld conference to its Primavera PPM (project portfolio management) software, which is used to track and manage the torrent of people, assets, timelines and expenses associated with projects and services engagements. Bad Software Design Inhibits Use of Enterprise Apps
Wondering why your company's staffers are using only a fraction of the software features and functionality that your bounteous enterprise software offers? Oracle offers virtualization template tool
Oracle Corp. delved further into the server virtualization space, offering a template-building tool to speed up deployments based on the open source Oracle VM software product. VMware's next move may be middleware buy
VMware will gain a substantial footprint in enterprise Java application development with its pending acquisition of SpringSource, which was announced Monday. But the virtualization giant may follow up that move -- made in support of a new PaaS (platform as a service) cloud-computing strategy -- by investing in distributed caching technology, a class of middleware that boosts application performance and scalability.
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