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A charismatic leader stands up and addresses the expectant faithful in the San Francisco Bay Area. No, not Steve Jobs' Apple iPad announcement, but Larry Ellison's unveiling of the Oracle/Sun strategy. In IT Blogwatch, bloggers discover what it means for Solaris, Java, SPARC, etc...
Your humble blogwatcher selected these bloggy morsels for your enjoyment. Not to mention iPad: Steve Jobs's downfall?...
Gavin Clarke unveils Oracle's Java and open source strategy:
Sun's HotSpot Java Virtual Machine ... will be integrated with the fast JRockit VM from BEA Systems; JavaFX, ... should see an update by the summer; and Sun's Operations Center management software ... will merge with Oracle's Enterprise Manger. ... Sun's open-source projects in application servers and portals with Glassfish and its NetBeans integrated development environment (IDE) will live on too.
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But ... Oracle's WebLogic will be sold as the company's strategic application server for enterprise applications, while the free and open Glassfish will be Oracle's application server for departmental applications. ... NetBeans [will be] ... for Java Standard Edition, scripting languages, mobile, JavaFX, and Solaris - according to Oracle. Oracle's premier JDeveloper IDE will be reserved for building Oracle's enterprise applications using Java.
Octave Orgeron couldn't make the event in person:
The webcasts and ... presentations ... are located here. ... [I] wanted soo badly to watch it live and ignore work. But alas, that was not meant to be. ... Things that I'm most pleased with are:
New Sun Oracle Logo!
Increased investment in SPARC, Solaris, Servers, Storage, Virtualization, etc.
UltraSPARC-T3 will be delivered this year! Plus there are 3 other SPARC processors in development!!
LDoms takes center stage as the hypervisor on SPARC for Oracle VM
Oracle Enterprise Manager will merge with OpsCenter
Sun Oracle is hiring across the board!
Also, the old www.sun.com site has changed! It is sad to see the old Sun web site go away and merged with the Oracle web site. I will miss the old blues and silvers.
Larry Dignan looks for historical parallels:
In the 1960s, IBM was your IT vendor. Now Oracle wants to do the same. ... Theres one throat to choke and lots of integration. ... The downside: Youre dependent on one vendor. ... Youd almost think that T.J. Watson was in the house.
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Do IT buyers want to go back to the 1960s? Oracle honchos portrayed a vision that could be comforting to tech executives. Change management will be easier with Oracle engineers optimizing Sun hardware with its software. Support will be built in and automated. And if you have a big problem theres direct support for the largest customers. ... The pitch: You want integrated systems and Oracle can simplify your life.
Bob Evans liked Ellison's uncompromising excoriation:
Oracle CEO Larry Ellison ... saved his toughest talk for the UBS investment analyst who recently floated the rumor that Oracle would dismiss more than 13,000 Sun employees, or half its total workforce. Ellison called that claim "garbage" that was "highly irresponsible" and then set the record straight: Oracle will be adding employees.
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In my experience, it was an unprecedented set of comments from a CEO to analysts and the media, but I think it was a brilliant stroke by Ellison because in sharing publicly and angrily his heartfelt reaction to those reports, he let Sun's 27,000 employees know in unmistakable terms that they have his full and unwavering support.
Bjorn Andersson reads between the lines:
There were a lot of statements that basically said we are investing in Suns product X and Oracles product Y continues to be the strategic direction ... But despite this inclusive theme there were however some glaring oversights and a missed opportunity to provide clarity and state what they will not do.
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Oracles On Demand centers use Dell servers and NetApp storage as far as I know. I can imagine these will be switched to Sun servers and storage going forward. NetApp got sort of a black eye when Larry Ellison positioned Suns ZFS storage appliance as a next generation NextApp, just better, faster and cheaper. There was no further reference to Dell however. ... HP wasnt mentioned much either. ... I guess Id put what happens with the Dell and HP relationships in the glossed over category.
But Paolo Del Nibletto's not too thrilled:
I like Oracles overall product strategy with Sun, but I am disappointed by its direct only strategy to large accounts. Oracle started in business by selling direct and gradually overtime embraced the channel to mutual success. I would hate to think they are reverting back now.
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I understand Oracles thought process here. Trust me I do. I do have a bias towards the channel. I think it is the right strategy for every company in the IT industry in the long term. If you look at Dell Computer; they turned to channel sales after 23 years of selling exclusively direct because they realized they would be unable to sustain the model.
Richi Jennings is an independent analyst/consultant, specializing in blogging, email, and security. A cross-functional IT geek since 1985, he is also an analyst at Ferris Research. You can follow him as @richi on Twitter, or richij on FriendFeed, pretend to be richij's friend on Facebook, or just use good old email: itblogwatch@richij.com.
