Oracle learns integration lesson

Oracle used its Application World show this week to unveil a new release of its e-business suite, a new customer data hub and tracking compatibility for its warehouse management product.

Version 11i.10 of its e-business suite adds easier integration capabilities, giving existing 11i users a migration path to enabling web services interfaces with other applications on more than 800 integration points, the firm said.

The suite now has interfaces based on those established by the Open Applications Group, natively supporting 150 of its pre-defined business objects.

Oracle has also expanded support for industry-specific protocols such as the RossettaNet standards for supply chain management in high-tech manufacturing, and Health Level 7 for the healthcare industry.

And an application programming interface repository will give users easier access to definitive integration policies.

The introduction of the customer data hub further enhances Oracle's integration capabilities, offering disparate application infrastructures the chance to integrate and aggregate transactional data across the enterprise.

"Oracle is very open to integration because we know we have a robust data model," Robert Fleming, senior director of applications marketing at Oracle, told vnunet.com.

"Customers had to buy our e-business suite before, but now we provide the same aggregated data quality for customers with other data models."

The integration theme continued with Oracle's key application server, 10g, opened up to third-party applications from the value chain for better interfaces with business partners, customers and suppliers.

But with 10g, Oracle is basing connectivity on out-of-the-box adapters from those third parties or by translating or transforming data. It also enables management and activity monitoring of the integrated processes.

Updates to Oracle's e-business suite outsourced offering centre around automation, management and business continuity.

And the introduction of per-user based pricing for licensing its outsourced software will drive the argument for Oracle's lower total cost of ownership claims.

Finally, Oracle introduced radio frequency identification and electronic product code functionality to its Warehouse Management product.

This is designed to integrate warehouse and distribution inventory control and reduce supply chain costs.