All Oracle, all the time

Oh, it’s all going to be about the Oracle this week…

The firm kicked off its Oracle OpenWorld 2006 party … i mean, show … i mean, well, the Oracle OpenWorld 2006. The exhibition of partners and clients opened on Sunday, proving that though The Almighty himself rested on the seventh day, Oracle does not. Oracle expects to draw 40,000 in the show’s four days.

And the big firm opened the big show in a big way, too. Oracle president Charles Phillips appeared with pro basketballer and Golden State Warrior Jason Richardson. The first big announcement of the four-day Oracle extravaganza? That the Warriors will in fact be hosting NBA games at Oracle Arena. Reportedly, Phillips even performed a crossover dribble. The Chump is skeptical, awaiting the appearance of said feat on YouTube.

Getting down to more tangible business, Phillips again discussed the ballyhooed “umbrella strategy” of Oracle, the firm’s description of Oracle’s business applications leveraging the Oracle technology stack. (Fusion is on the man’s mind.) Phillips introduced two products that “are taking advantage of the Oracle stack to improve the software ownership experience,” namely Configuration Support Manager and Oracle Accelerators.

Also speaking on Sunday, Oracle President Safra Catz presented a user community address speech at the fifth annual Oracle User Forum. Said Catz, “We are in a special moment [sic] in the company’s history, and Oracle can’t be successful if you’re not successful.”

The six primary Oracle user groups – the Higher Education User Group, Independent Oracle Users Group, Oracle Development Tools User Group, Oracle HMC User Group, Oracle Applications User Group, and Quest International User Group – were recognized for the “valuable education they offered to customers eager to understand and leverage the benefits of Oracle technology.”

In a sort of kicking off, Catz remarked that attendees would also benefit from a range of special interest group session, established for Oracle’s PeopleSoft Enterprise and JD Edwards EnterpriseOne users, that offered up-to-date information on upgrade plans articulated directly by Oracle’s development staff.

Catz concluded by addressing the user groups’ role in helping Oracle evangelize technology to the user community, including users, partners, and companies. Catz commended the worldwide user group community as Oracle’s most active and dedicated customers and applauded their commitment to share best practices and influence Oracle product direction.

Coverering the event is Barbara Darrow of CRN.com, who turned in a good piece explaining some of the strategizing going down with Oracle right now. Leads Darrow, “Oracle wants more partners to sell more of its diverse application set. Most notably the database giant … wants to turn up the channel effort on PeopleSoft and Siebel apps in the mid market.” Indeed, Darrow bases her assertion on a statement by Rauline Ochs, group vice president of North American alliances and channels for Oracle. (Love these Oracle titles!)

At the Oracle show, Ochs stated point blank, “We are recruiting PeopleSoft and Siebel resellers for [the customer] segment under US $100 million … We just opened up PeopleSoft for the first time to the channel—they’re not traditionally in the channel except in the public sector. We are also looking for Siebel resellers and are recruiting Fusion middleware resellers.”

Darrow sees changes at Oracle in Darrow’s remarks, in company diplomacy moves and in its technology releases. “Oracle,” she writes, "which has seen its share of channel conflict in the past has brought on board two other companies not necessarily known for their channel friendliness. It is for Ochs and Doug Kennedy, vice president of worldwide alliances and channels to fix that and they have had some success, several partners said.”

Darrow also figures Oracle to be bridging “traditionally different sales models for its technology products and its applications. Oracle has long fielded both a partner and direct-sales strategy for databases and middleware. Applications have typically sold direct, although partners get referral fees on new business the bring to the table. Last year, Oracle authorized Avnet and its affiliated VARs to sell applications as well.”

One more key release hit the airwaves early today vis-a-vis Oracle. LegacyMode, LLC today announced it is extending its flagship offering, LegacyMode for PeopleSoft, to the entire Oracle application product portfolio including the e-business suite.

Citing strong demand in the PeopleSoft market, LegacyMode promises to provide patches, fixes, regulatory updates, and general software support and maintenance services to the entire Oracle Applications product set.

LegacyMode also unveiled its “Fractional Maintenance Stream Ownership for Support Professionals” program. Explains LegacyMode founder / CEO D.L. Daniels, “This is our way of giving back to the support industry professionals who have spent the last ten years deploying and customizing these critical systems. It’s an annuity for enterprise application support professionals.”

LegacyMode for Oracle Applications is now available. Prices start at US $50,000.

Barbara Darrow’s “Oracle Wants PeopleSoft, Siebel Partners For SMB Apps Push” can be read at CRN.com.

“Oracle watchers,” as Ms. Darrow excellently refers to them (though not The Chump, he can assure you), can follow the proceedings of Oracle OpenWorld 2006 in lovely San Francisco through posted “dailies” on the firm’s homepage.