Oracle Purchases GoldenGate

Another day and another acquisition by Oracle. The latest is GoldenGate. This is a company that has created products that provide real time Data Warehousing and high availability solutions.

As with most Oracle acquisitions, this one is not that different. Oracle has purchased GoldenGate as it is one of the leaders in these various areas. It will be interesting to see how Oracle will integrate these technologies into their own stable of products. Word from the street is that GoldenGate customers are very satisfied with their products.

From a Data Warehousing side the real-time warehousing will be a nice addition and extension to the current offerings of ODI and OWB. GoldenGate leverages CDC technology and provides timely data warehouse updates.

From a high availability perspective, the acquisition will provide additional stand-by options and reduce outages. I expect to see much of this technology rolled into Oracle existing products to extend and improve them.

The IOUG is excited by this purchase and we welcome the GoldenGate user community to the Oracle fold. I expect that as we move forward we will work on integrating this community to provide them with a network of other Oracle professionals who serve their needs. It is an exciting time to be working with Oracle.

User Group and Oracle Loyalty

Recently the IOUG and Oracle embarked on a survey that collected the value that people receive from user groups like the IOUG and Oracle. I mentioned this survey previously and I hope that many of you took the time to complete it.

So what did this survey tell us? What did it tell Oracle? It told us that generally people are very satisfied. The survey showed that 80% of people who are associated with one of the participating in a user group are Very Satisfied with this relationship. This is no surprise for people who are already members, and has now confirmed this with Oracle.

So what did you identify as the most valuable reason for being a member? I think that question is quite obvious; it is Networking. Again over 75% of respondents said that Networking was a very valuable benefit of being a member. In addition similar numbers were seen in the Education provided by the user community. This confirms what we see as being our value. The user groups are the best place to go to meet people who have similar Oracle interests. The value of in-person and virtual networking are two of the foci for the coming year for the IOUG. The only place you can get unbiased information about Oracle technology comes from the user communities and this survey has confirmed this value.

The key is providing value. People today understand that they need to do more with less. So user groups need to provide this type of cost-effective education. The IOUG is looking at working on a BI event in the coming months. We expect this will be a virtual event in the late fall and one that will be delivered at a very advantageous price point. The IOUG is listening and our program is changing to meet our member needs.

One interesting tidbit that as mention today was mentioned was that according to some folks at Oracle, it seems like User Group members log less Service Requests for support. So now how will Oracle help the user groups is the question as we already know how user groups help its members and Oracle. As some people say “Membership Has It’s Privileges”…..take some time and join in. (www.ioug.org)

An Oracle User Summer

As the summer moves along, I look back and forwards to see where the IOUG has come from and where we are going.

COLLABORATE was of course the big in-person and on-line event of the technology user year and it was another great success. Considering the economy, the value that we are got from the annual event was spectacular. The new content about the database and middleware was better than ever. It is always great to see the speakers who come each year and share their experiences. So now we are on to planning next year’s event and I am more excited than ever.

Next year COLLABORATE 10 will be held in Las Vegas in April 2010 and the focus will be on Business Intelligence and Data Warehousing. We will provide a focus and a larger number of sessions

Planning for our next events this summer and fall are well underway. We are working with Oracle on various user group activities that are part of Open World. We will be putting on technical presentations on the Sunday of the event. As well as numerous sessions during the week. I know I am excited as I will be unveiling my latest presentation named “An ETL Framework for OWB”. The IOUG and our members will be there in force and we look forward to seeing everyone again.

In addition we are working on either a RAC or BI focused event. Considering the growth of these areas and the experts that are active members of the community make these subjects top of mind and 2 areas that the IOUG continues to focus on.

Finally as President I will be attending the North American User Group Presidents meeting at Oracle’s office in Atlanta. It is at these meetings where all the user groups get together to discuss the subjects that are of most interest. As you should already know the IOUG recently worked with Oracle on a survey about user group value and priorities. The results of this survey will be released at the meeting and I look forward to sharing it with you in the coming weeks.

So things are busy around the IOUG and I hope that the group is helping you solve you business challenges.