Over the last two weeks, enterprise application vendors Oracle and SAP have been locking horns in another of their public battles. This time, the dispute is over which company is ahead of the other in delivering a next-generation application suite that delivers a complete service-oriented architecture (SOA). While the latest verbal fistfight may make for good theater, it obscures the real changes that are taking place in the SOA strategies not only of the two vendors, but of other solution providers.
The seeds of the latest squabble were first sown back on the week of September 11 when SAP held its annual TechEd conference in Las Vegas. At the conference, SAP announced significant changes to its strategy for enhancing its flagship mySAP ERP application suite. The vendor stated that all new functional enhancements to mySAP ERP through 2010—including full SOA-enablement—will be made available as extensions to mySAP ERP 2005, the current release. The extensions will be optional, enabling users to upgrade at their discretion on their own timetables. In addition, the vendor announced SAP Discovery System, a low-cost "application sandbox" in which users can experiment with mySAP ERP 2005 and SAP's NetWeaver middleware. The new offering includes services for common business tasks, such as procurement, that show how an SOA can improve business processes.
The latest announcement from the German software giant is a crucial one for users of mySAP ERP as well as SAP R/3, its predecessor. Last year, SAP told customers that it intended to ship a new version of mySAP ERP in 2007 that would feature a full implementation of Enterprise Services Architecture (ESA), the vendor's name for its implementation of SOA. This made many users of R/3 leery about upgrading to mySAP ERP 2005, as they were concerned that SAP would soon push them to upgrade a second time to mySAP ERP 2007.
By declaring that mySAP ERP 2005 is the code base for all R/3 and mySAP users through 2010, SAP has effectively cancelled the shipment of mySAP ERP 2007 and removed this concern. It has also cleverly made its current version the only one that offers the new Muse user interface as well as Duet, the software that lets users access SAP functions through their Microsoft Office applications. These facts could entice many fence-sitting customers into upgrading to mySAP ERP 2005. They may also help SAP's cause with prospective customers, as the vendor could argue that companies can deploy mySAP ERP 2005 today and know it will not become obsolete next year. That, in turn, may improve SAP's financial results, which came in surprisingly below analyst expectations last quarter.
Oracle's Very Different Take
While SAP slipped on a financial icy patch last quarter, Oracle has been putting on a show of fiscal sure footedness lately. On September 19, the company announced that its first quarter 2007 revenues grew 30% compared to the previous year, while earnings per share jumped 28%. Even more impressively, revenue from new licenses for applications grew by a whopping 80%. This indicates that Oracle's Applications Unlimited pledge to support its existing product lines indefinitely is giving customers the confidence to start buying those products again.
While Oracle's strong quarterly report was big news, the company's CEO, Larry Ellison, also generated headlines with the shots he took at SAP during the release of the financial results. Never the shrinking violet, Ellison alleged that SAP was not only rethinking its strategy as it is losing market share to Oracle, but had to "delay" the next version of SAP applications until 2010. As he was quick to point out, "That's a full two years behind Oracle's scheduled delivery of our SOA Fusion Applications."
Is SAP delaying its rollout of full SOA capabilities on mySAP ERP by canceling mySAP ERP 2007? It is possible but unlikely. By stating last year that mySAP ERP 2007 would be its first full implementation of ESA, SAP made a commitment to complete its transition to SOA by 2007. It now appears that the vendor will provide incremental upgrades to mySAP ERP 2005 that will likely provide a full implementation of ESA by 2007. However, SAP's new strategy does make it easier for the vendor to cover up a less-than-complete rollout of ESA should it encounter problems bringing the new SOA platform to market.
A Tempest in a Teacup?
As might be expected, SAP is already retorting that Ellison's comments are a gross and opportunistic distortion of its TechEd announcements. Over the coming weeks, the two vendors will undoubtedly engage in further attacks and counterattacks. After all, both vendors put a high value on being the first to deliver a full implementation of SOA in their applications.
That may matter to a handful of large enterprises with big SOA plans. However, it has little meaning to the vast majority of both vendors' customers. Despite the proclamations of some analyst firms, most small and medium-sized companies have only a vague idea of what SOA is. They also have little to no concept of whether, when, or how they will deploy it. They approach the prospect of installing a full-blown, next-generation suite of SOA applications with the same enthusiasm as getting a root canal.
Given this attitude, most customers couldn't care less whether Oracle or SAP is first to market with such products. They are far more worried that their existing applications will be forgotten by vendors that are in a rush to be the first to grab the SOA flag. Most customers just want their vendors to make their existing applications work better (instead of tussle for SOA bragging rights). If that happens, customers may be interested in experimenting with SOA technologies to see how they could improve their business processes. However, they have no reason to tear up their existing code bases and start over again with new and unproven offerings.
Believe it or not, SAP and Oracle are beginning to understand how their customers feel about this vital matter. Of course, that isn't stopping them from beating their chests over who will get to SOA first. While they are doing that, however, they are also revising their strategies for existing applications. Just consider the changes that SAP, Oracle, and other vendors have made in recent months to reassure their customer bases.
- Instead of forcing customers to deploy an unproven suite of SOA applications in 2007, SAP is telling its R/3 and mySAP ERP customers that they can implement SOA technologies in a gradual manner on an existing code base: mySAP ERP 2005.
- Instead of pressuring its JD Edwards, PeopleSoft, and Siebel users to upgrade to its SOA-based Fusion Applications, Oracle will enhance these users' existing products indefinitely. The enhancements will include many or even most of the SOA capabilities promised for Fusion Applications.
- Infor, the owner of SSA Global and other System i vendors, is promoting its Infor Open SOA strategy under which customers will be able to SOA-enable their existing software without having to endure, as Infor puts it, a "rip and replace software upgrade."
- Lawson, which recently acquired System i vendor Intentia, is promising that users of both vendors' applications will be able to SOA-enable them in place by using components from its Landmark platform of Web services.
These and other vendors are tripping over each other to promise their users evolutionary, near-painless SOA-enablement on their existing applications. That is a far cry from the comments about an "SOA revolution" that many software industry executives were making last year. The vendors are learning that such proclamations too often elicit consternation rather than elation from their users. That is leading them to craft far more user-friendly roadmaps to SOA than they were charting a few short months ago.
In short, don't let the latest skirmishes between Oracle and SAP distract you from what is really happening in the software market. Behind their bluff and bluster about being the first to ship next-generation solutions, enterprise application vendors are scrambling to figure out how they can make SOA technologies palatable to users of their current-generation products. That is great news for those of us who want more flexible and powerful applications but are not willing to bet our careers on new and unproven code bases.
Lee Kroon is a Senior Industry Analyst for Andrews Consulting Group, a firm that helps mid-sized companies manage business transformation through technology. You can reach him at
More than ever, there is a demand for IT to deliver innovation. Your IBM i has been an essential part of your business operations for years. However, your organization may struggle to maintain the current system and implement new projects. The thousands of customers we've worked with and surveyed state that expectations regarding the digital footprint and vision of the company are not aligned with the current IT environment.
TRY the one package that solves all your document design and printing challenges on all your platforms. Produce bar code labels, electronic forms, ad hoc reports, and RFID tags – without programming! MarkMagic is the only document design and print solution that combines report writing, WYSIWYG label and forms design, and conditional printing in one integrated product. Make sure your data survives when catastrophe hits. Request your trial now! Request Now.
Forms of ransomware has been around for over 30 years, and with more and more organizations suffering attacks each year, it continues to endure. What has made ransomware such a durable threat and what is the best way to combat it? In order to prevent ransomware, organizations must first understand how it works.
Disaster protection is vital to every business. Yet, it often consists of patched together procedures that are prone to error. From automatic backups to data encryption to media management, Robot automates the routine (yet often complex) tasks of iSeries backup and recovery, saving you time and money and making the process safer and more reliable. Automate your backups with the Robot Backup and Recovery Solution. Key features include:
Business users want new applications now. Market and regulatory pressures require faster application updates and delivery into production. Your IBM i developers may be approaching retirement, and you see no sure way to fill their positions with experienced developers. In addition, you may be caught between maintaining your existing applications and the uncertainty of moving to something new.
IT managers hoping to find new IBM i talent are discovering that the pool of experienced RPG programmers and operators or administrators with intimate knowledge of the operating system and the applications that run on it is small. This begs the question: How will you manage the platform that supports such a big part of your business? This guide offers strategies and software suggestions to help you plan IT staffing and resources and smooth the transition after your AS/400 talent retires. Read on to learn:
LATEST COMMENTS
MC Press Online