Oracle strengthens Fusion Middleware

Upgrades to the middleware line will boost ID management, BI and SOA capabilities

Oracle has detailed imminent upgrades to its Fusion Middleware line to enhance its identity management, portal, business intelligence (BI) and service-oriented architecture (SOA) capabilities, and chief executive Larry Ellison hinted that the firm may make further large-scale acquisitions.

David Keene, director of Fusion Middleware Solutions at Oracle, said four new middleware suites are scheduled to launch before the end of the year under the banner 10g Release 3.

A new identity (ID) management suite that tightens integration between the functionality Oracle gained through its acquisitions of ID management specialists Oblix, Thor Technologies and Phaos and its original equipment manufacturer (OEM) partnership with Passlogix is "on the blocks and ready for launch", Keene said.

It will be followed in the last quarter of the year by a new J2EE-based portal featuring voice over IP, blog and wiki functionality; a BI and analytics suite that incorporates analytics capabilities acquired from CRM giant Siebel; and an SOA management suite that will tighten integration between Oracle's existing composite application management, business process management and service bus technology, and a service registry provided by OEM partner Systinet.

"Right now our SOA suite has all the functionality you need," said Keene. " But customers have said the biggest problem [when building an SOA] is wiring, so we've really focused on tightening the integration."

Analyst Neil Ward-Dutton said Oracle's integrated suite is designed to drive SOA adoption further into the mainstream. "What Oracle is hoping is that developing a [SOA management] bundle will allow it to offer mainstream customers a nice digestable SOA solution," he said.

However, Ward-Dutton added that Oracle might still want to fill some gaps in its portfolio. "From a high-level perspective [Oracle's SOA portfolio] is complete, but SOA is such a broad idea with such broad ramifications… that there is a lot more functionality Oracle could have," he said. "I would expect Oracle to sign further OEMs as it did with Systinet, particularly in areas like security and supporting the composition of services."

IBM and BEA are also investing heavily in promoting their SOA management suites, but Keene insisted that though Oracle was committed to providing open, standards-based middleware it had a differentiator in its ability to ship its middleware pre-packaged with Oracle applications.

"If customers want to run other middleware [with Oracle apps] they can, but we are shipping the whole stack," Keene said. "Customers are looking at reducing suppliers, reducing integration costs and having a single point of certification. We're providing that [one-stop shop], but it's not a Wal-Mart one-stop shop, it is a Waitrose one-stop shop with high specs and high-quality technology."

However, Ward-Dutton argued this approach may have cost Oracle some " mindshare" among SOA technology purchasers. "I don’t think Oracle is trailing [IBM and BEA] in terms of technology… but in trying to convince people SOA is all about middleware and apps together, while BEA and IBM have taken a more technology-led marketing approach it may have lost some mindshare."

Meanwhile, Oracle chief executive Larry Ellison fuelled speculation that the company's acquisition spree could continue after saying in an interview with Forbes that it may buy BEA or BI specialist Business Objects and could also start distributing Red Hat Linux.

Ward-Dutton said that while acquiring BEA's customer base may appeal to Oracle shareholders any deal would be likely to prove "a disaster". "BEA doesn’t do anything except middleware, so it attracts customers that don’t want their supplier to do anything else," he said. "So if Oracle or anyone else bought BEA they would automatically piss off its customers."

Even Oracle's Keene cast doubts on a possible deal. "I think BEA would be a better acquisition for SAP," he said. "We don't need two… middleware infrastructure layers."

However, a possible bid for Business Objects was given greater credence, following speculation about consolidation in the BI market and the recent fall in Business Objects’ share price in the wake of a profit warning.

Both BEA and Business Objects declined to comment on the speculation.