An In-Depth Look at Oracle Fusion Applications
A year ago, Oracle (NASDAQ: CEO) Larry Ellison made a big splash at the 2010 Oracle OpenWorld about the company's Fusion middeware and application platform. He said it would be rolled out carefully to ensure it was fully ready for the enterprise.
Fast forward a year and 200 companies have been using a beta version of Fusion, with another 200 early adopters helping to test and refine the platform. At last week's OpenWorld, Ellison officially ended the controlled release phase and put his foot down hard on the throttle of Fusion sales.
“It took six years of engineering to build a complete integrated suite of ERP, Human Capital Management, CRM, Supply Chain Management and many other applications on top of modern technology,” he said. “Now Fusion is ready for general availability – over 100 separate products all rewritten on top of modern technology.”
The design goals for Fusion were for it to run in the cloud and on premises, base it on standard programming languages like Java, standard middleware, have baked-in business intelligence and analytics, and have security running in the middleware and OS rather than the applications.
Oracle's CEO compared that approach to SAP, which uses the proprietary Advanced Business Application Programming (ABAP) while Fusion utilizes Java, which Ellison characterized as the most popular programming language in the world.
When users log in to the home page, it is designed to tell them the latest news about the business. For a sales manager, this would be details of deals closed, how current sales match up against quotas, tasks that need performing, hiring info, pending approvals and more.
Oracle Cloud Applications
Ellison also revealed the Oracle Public Cloud, which is both a platform as a service (PaaS) and software as a service (SaaS). The platform part consists of services for data, database and security, while the application side is where Fusion CRM, Human Capital Management (HCM), Talent Management and Financials reside. As a result, you can take any existing Oracle database and move it into or out of the cloud (or into another standards-based cloud like Amazon), as well as associated data.
For those wanting to extend an application or build an app, the Java Services portion comes into play. Users can use Java EE to build an app that is portable.
“Don't try to move that Java EE app to the Salesforce cloud,” said Ellison. “It won't run.”
He then proceeded to bash Salesforce.com as a “false cloud” based on proprietary APEX and Force.com technologies.
Ellison gave an example of Oracle Fusion CRM running in the cloud.
“Other CRM systems help managers monitor their sales forecasts,” he said. “Our system helps sales people sell more and work as a team.”
The Oracle Public Cloud is available on a monthly subscription basis with self-service sign up and instant provisioning of more or less resources as needed.
Ellison ended with the unveiling of the Oracle Social Network. It is a way for teams to collaborate, communicate, web conference and share documents in a secure environment. It, too, has business intelligence and analytics built in.
The idea is for sales teams, for example, to use this network to collaborate on closes, provide recommendations on the best customer references and team members to bring into the sales cycle. Security controls allow managers to enable individuals to see only certain info and not others.
Applications Unlimited
So should users migrate to Fusion or stick with their existing platforms? Oracle's approach is to be happy to accept both viewpoints. Those in a rush to get their hands on Fusion can do so. Other more conservative operations will be supported for many years to come on current apps. And both can coexist as well.
Accordingly, Oracle has developed coexistence processes that extend across all major product lines, including Oracle's Siebel CRM, Oracle's PeopleSoft, Oracle's JD Edwards, PeopleSoft, Oracle's JD Edwards and the Oracle E-Business Suite.
“Oracle Fusion Application coexistence means organizations can cull the best from existing systems and incrementally adopt without the expense of a complete overhaul,” said Steve Miranda, Oracle's senior vice president of application development.
He explained that Oracle's Applications Unlimited initiative allows customers to remain on existing apps like PeopleSoft, Oracle EBS or Siebel CRM, or else move over to Fusion. Part of the strategy is to use Fusion as a gateway to cloud-based enterprise apps.
“Some are rushing to the cloud and Fusion is the way to get them there easiest,” said Miranda.
He made the point that current applications in the cloud are there in isolation. You can have CRM in the cloud or talent management in the cloud but those systems don't interoperate. Fusion is a means of remedying that – each app that runs in the cloud shares the underlying platform and so data can be shared by them.
Miranda said the CRM and HCM families are the most popular modules of Fusion, followed by supply chain management (SCM).
“Most customers are using several modules in tandem within one family,” said Miranda.
He said that the Fusion upgrade path will vary from customer to customer. Some will dive in as they are anxious to move to the cloud. Others will upgrade to the latest on premises version of ERP or CRM and then add a Fusion module to add specific functionality.
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Drew Robb is a writer who has been writing about IT, engineering, and other topics. Originating from Scotland, he currently resides in Florida. Highly skilled in rapid prototyping innovative and reliable systems. He has been an editor and professional writer full-time for more than 20 years. He works as a freelancer at Enterprise Apps Today, CIO Insight and other IT publications. He is also an editor-in chief of an international engineering journal. He enjoys solving data problems and learning abstractions that will allow for better infrastructure.
