SVP FOCUS FOCUS
--
Chris Baker SVP Oracle Worldwide ISV-OEM-Java Sales
Chris Baker is the Global Head of ISV/OEM Sales responsible for working with ISV/OEM partners
to maximise Oracle's business through those partners, whilst maximising those partners’ business
to their
end users. Chris works with partners, customers, innovators, investors and employees
to develop innovative business solutions using Oracle products, services and skills.
RESOURCES
--
Oracle PartnerNetwork (OPN)
OPN Solutions Catalog
Oracle Exastack Program
Oracle Exastack Optimized
Oracle Cloud Computing
Oracle Engineered Systems
Oracle and Java
SUBSCRIBE
FEEDBACK
PREVIOUS ISSUES
"By taking part in marketing activities, our partners accelerate their sales cycles."
--
Firstly, could you please explain Oracle's current strategy for ISV partners, globally and in EMEA?
Oracle customers use independent software vendor (ISV) applications
to run their businesses. They use them
to generate revenue and
to fulfil obligations
to their own customers. Our strategy is very straight-forward. We want all of our ISV partners and OEMs
to concentrate on the things that they do the best—building applications
to meet the unique industry and functional requirements of their customer. We want
to ensure that we deliver a best-in-class application platform so ISVs are free
to concentrate their effort on their application functionality and user experience We invest over four billion dollars in research and development every year, and we want our ISVs
to benefit from all of that investment in operating systems, virtualisation, databases, middleware, engineered systems, and other hardware. By doing this, we help them
to reduce their costs, gain more consistency and agility for quicker implementations, and also rapidly differentiate themselves from other application vendors. It's all about simplification because we believe that around 25
to 30 percent of the development costs incurred by many ISVs are caused by customising infrastructure and have nothing
to do with their applications. Our strategy is
to enable our ISV partners
to standardise their application platform using engineered architecture, so they can write once
to the Oracle stack and deploy seamlessly in the cloud, on-premise, or in hybrid deployments. It's really important that architecture is the same in order
to keep cost and time overheads at a minimum, so we provide standardisation and an environment that enables our ISVs
to concentrate on the core business that makes them the most money and brings them success.
How do you believe this strategy is helping the ISVs
to work hand-in-hand with Oracle
to ensure that
end customers get the industry-leading solutions that they need?
We work with our ISVs not just
to help them be successful, but also
to help them market themselves. We have something called the 'Oracle Exastack Ready Program', which enables ISVs
to publicise themselves as 'Ready'
to run the core software platforms that run on Oracle's engineered systems including Exadata and Exalogic. So, for example, they can become 'Database Ready' which means that they use the latest version of Oracle Database and therefore can run their application without modification on Exadata or the Oracle Database Appliance. Alternatively, they can become WebLogic Ready, Oracle Linux Ready and Oracle Solaris Ready which means they run on the latest release and therefore can run their application, with no new porting work, on Oracle Exalogic. Those 'Ready' logos are important in helping ISVs advertise
to their customers that they are using the latest technologies which have been fully tested. We now also have Exadata Ready and Exalogic Ready programmes which allow ISVs
to promote the certification of their applications on these platforms. This highlights these partners
to Oracle customers as having solutions that run fluently on the Oracle Exadata Database Machine, the Oracle Exalogic Elastic Cloud or one of our other engineered systems. This makes it easy for customers
to identify solutions and provides ISVs with an avenue
to connect with Oracle customers who are rapidly adopting engineered systems. We have also taken this programme
to the next level in the shape of 'Oracle Exastack Optimized' for partners whose applications run best on the Oracle stack and have invested the time
to fully optimise application performance. We ensure that Exastack Optimized partner status is promoted and supported by press releases, and we help our ISVs go
to market and differentiate themselves through the use of our technology and the standardisation it delivers.
To date we have had several hundred organisations successfully work through our Exastack Optimized programme.
How does Oracle's strategy of offering pre-integrated open platform software and hardware allow ISVs
to bring their products
to market more quickly?
One of the problems for many ISVs is that they have
to think very carefully about the technology on which their solutions will be deployed, particularly in the cloud or hosted environments. They have
to think hard about how they secure these environments, whether the concern is, for example, middleware, identity management, or securing personal data. If they don't use the technology that we build-in
to our products
to help them
to fulfil these roles, they then have
to build it themselves. This takes time, requires testing, and must be maintained. By taking advantage of our technology, partners will now know that they have a standard platform. They will know that they can confidently talk about implementation being the same every time they do it. Very large ISV applications could once take a year or two
to be implemented at an on-premise environment. But it wasn't just the configuration of the application that took the time, it was actually the infrastructure - the different hardware configurations, operating systems and configurations of databases and middleware. Now we strongly believe that it's all about standardisation and repeatability. It's about making sure that our partners can do it once and are then able
to roll it out many different times using standard componentry.
What actions would you recommend for existing ISV partners that are looking
to do more business with Oracle and its customer base, not only
to maximise benefits, but also
to maximise partner relationships?
My team, around the world and in the EMEA region, is available and ready
to talk
to any of our ISVs and
to explore the possibilities together. We run programmes like 'Excite' and 'Insight'
to help us
to understand how we can help ISVs with architecture and widen their environments. But we also want
to work with, and look at, new opportunities - for example, the Machine-to-Machine (M2M) market or 'The Internet of Things'. Over the next few years, many millions, indeed billions of devices will be collecting massive amounts of data and communicating it back
to the central systems where ISVs will be running their applications. The only way that our partners will be able
to provide a single vendor 'end-to-end' solution is
to use Oracle integrated systems at the back
end and Java on the 'smart' devices collecting the data—a complete solution from device
to data centre. So there are huge opportunities
to work closely with our ISVs, using Oracle's complete M2M platform,
to provide the infrastructure that enables them
to extract maximum value from the data collected. If any partners don't know where
to start or who
to contact, then they can contact me directly at
[email protected] or indeed any of our teams across the EMEA region. We want
to work with ISVs
to help them
to be as successful as they possibly can through simplification and speed
to market, and we also want all of the top ISVs in the world based on Oracle.
What opportunities are immediately opened
to new ISV partners joining the OPN?
As you know OPN is very, very important. New members will discover a huge amount of content that instantly becomes accessible
to them. They can access a wealth of no-cost training and enablement materials
to build their expertise in Oracle technology. They can download Oracle software and use it for development projects. They can help themselves become more competent by becoming part of a true community and uncovering new opportunities by working with Oracle and their peers in the Oracle Partner Network. As well as publishing massive amounts of information on OPN, we also hold our global Oracle OpenWorld event, at which partners play a huge role. This takes place at the
end of September and the beginning of October in San Francisco. Attending ISV partners have an unrivalled opportunity
to contribute
to elements such as the OpenWorld / OPN Exchange, at which they can talk
to other partners and really begin thinking about how they can move their businesses on and play key roles in a very large ecosystem which revolves around technology and standardisation.
Finally, are there any other messages that you would like
to share with the Oracle ISV community?
The crucial message that I always like
to reinforce is architecture, architecture and architecture! The key opportunities that ISVs have today revolve around standardising their architectures so that they can confidently think: "I will I be able
to do exactly the same thing whenever a customer is looking
to deploy on-premise, hosted or in the cloud". The right architecture is critical
to being competitive and
to really start changing the game. We want
to help our ISV partners
to do just that;
to establish standard architecture and
to seize the opportunities it opens up for them. New market opportunities like M2M are enormous - just look at how many devices are all around you right now. We can help our partners
to interface with these devices more effectively while thinking about their entire ecosystem, rather than just the piece that they have traditionally focused upon. With standardised architecture, we can help people dramatically improve their speed, reach, agility and delivery of enhanced customer satisfaction and value all the way from the Java side
to their centralised systems. All Oracle ISV partners must take advantage of these opportunities, which is why Oracle will continue
to invest in and support them.
Oracle OpenWorld 2010
Whether you attended Oracle OpenWorld 2009 or not, don't forget
to save the date now for Oracle OpenWorld 2010. The event will be held a little earlier next year, from 19th-23rd September, so please don't miss out.
With thousands of sessions and hundreds of exhibits and demos already lined up, there's no better place
to learn how
to optimise your existing systems, get an inside line on upcoming technology breakthroughs, and meet with your partner peers, Oracle strategists and even the developers responsible for the products and services that help you get better results for your
end customers.
Register Now for Oracle OpenWorld 2010!
Perhaps you are interested in learning more about Oracle OpenWorld 2010, but don't wish
to register at this time? Great! Please just enter your contact information here and we will contact you at a later date.
How
to Exhibit at Oracle OpenWorld 2010
Sponsorship Opportunities at Oracle OpenWorld 2010
Advertising Opportunities at Oracle OpenWorld 2010
--
Back
to the welcome page
