Join us for a one-hour virtual event as Judson Althoff, Penny Philpot and Nick Kritikos discuss the OPN Specialized program, its benefits and how you can specialize. In addition, you will hear from regional OPN leaders on the impact OPN Specialized will have on you.

For those looking to go into more depth on the private clouds - take a look at the whitepaper: Platform-as-a-Service Private Cloud with Oracle Fusion Middleware.

1) Check out the recently published SOA Manifesto. David Chappell, vice president and chief technologist for SOA at Oracle, has great coverage on his blog.

2) SOA Suite recently became available on Amazon EC2. For more info, take a look at the SOA Suite Team Blog.

3) Watch Oracle SOA ACE Mark Simpson with UK partner Griffiths Waite talk about the benefits of the new OPN Specialized program while at OpenWorld.

Rackspace had a busy week at OpenWorld including: a demo of Oracle Database and Oracle WebLogic running on a Rackspace Cloud Server™ during the keynote of Hasan Rizvi, SVP of Oracle Fusion Middleware, exibiting in the SaaS and Cloud pavilion, and Lew Moorman's participation in a cloud panel at the Oracle Leader's Circle.

Jesse also gives a quick demo of how an employee would use their ID to "punch the timeclock" with a B-COMM terminal. And of course in the background that data flows through the Validated Integration to PeopleSoft Time and Labor.

Sunday morning we held a SaaS & Cloud Special Interest Group meeting for Partners. We had over 150 attendees and a lively Q&A session. Partners were interested to hear about the momentum of the SaaS for ISVs program. SaaS for ISVs has been launched worldwide and seen tremendous early adoption by ISVs building on the Oracle Platform for SaaS.

The afternoon Oracle PartnerNetwork Forum event had a larger crowd than last year with 2000+ in Moscone South. The exciting news for the day was the launch of the OPN Specialized program by Judson Althoff, SVP of Worldwide Alliances & Channels. We also heard Oracle President's Safra Catz and Charles Phillips speak about the importance of Specialized Partners to Oracle and our mutual customers.

The VAR Guy was in attendance at the SaaS and Cloud SIG and blogged about the session. He also caught up with Judson Althoff to discuss the newly launched OPN Specialized program as well as SaaS opportunities for Oracle partners - video below.

1) Register for the Oracle PartnerNetwork Forum and attend the SaaS & Cloud Partner Meeting (Sunday, October 11th from 10:00 to 11:30am PST). At the Forum event you'll have the opportunity to hear from Oracle executives Charles Phillips, Safra Catz, and Judson Althoff.

2) Come see the SaaS & Cloud Partner Pavilion (Monday, October 12 - Wednesday, October 14, Moscone South, Booth 221). The Pavilion features partners including Wipro, Amazon, OpSource, and Enteros.

3) Attend OpenWorld sessions specifically for partners, including my session - ID S311783: Learn How to Partner with Oracle in Your Transition to SaaS (Wednesday, October 14 from 1:00 to 1:30 pm PST).

4) Attend Partner Sessions:
• Callidus: S307767 Deploying a SaaS Application on the Oracle Platform
• OpSource: S308509 - Get Ready to Sell: 2010 Is the Year of Enterprise SaaS
• CSC: S309755 Software-as-a-Service Transformation Demystified and Accelerated
• Accenture: S310396 Oracle and Accenture Point of View on Using Oracle Applications and the Amazon Cloud - Accenture will share their experience in deploying Oracle Apps in the Cloud
• NetApp: S312566 Clear Up the Cloud: Key Infrastructure Requirements and Real-World Implementations

5) Attend General Sessions:
• S308942 Develop Software-as-a-Service Applications on the Oracle SaaS Platform - For all developers & architects building new SaaS Apps or converting existing apps to multi-tenancy
• S311937 Cloud/SaaS/On Demand: Delivering Software the Way Customers Want to Consume It - Oracle On Demand Presentation on SaaS & Cloud offerings & vision.
• S309525 Identity Management and the Cloud: Stormy Days Ahead?
• S311356 Oracle Database in the Cloud
• S308721 Cloudy Days for Service-Oriented Architecture?
• S309451 Building a Distributed Computing Infrastructure, Using Oracle Coherence
• S308592 Software Assemblies in Oracle Fusion Middleware for the Virtualized World
• S312109 Provisioning Oracle RAC in a Virtualized Environment, Using Oracle Enterprise Manager
• S308460 Enterprise Data Services in the Cloud with Oracle Fusion Middleware
• S307483 Castle in the Clouds: SaaS-Enabling Oracle ADF Faces Applications
• S310084 Databases in the Cloud: Oracle TimesTen In-Memory Database on Amazon Web Services

Judson Althoff, Senior Vice President, Worldwide Alliances and Channels, talks about the partner opportunity with Application Integration Architecture.

Steve Datnow, CTO at HumanConcepts, shares how integration validation has helped reduce development costs, improve customer confidence, and maximize their market visibility.

Now Oracle Partners have a chance to submit their innovations. This is a great opportunity for our SaaS and ISV Partners to get recognized.

As we count down to the Oracle PartnerNetwork Forum, we want to know how you have been Innovating. Submit a short video letting us know how you have been Innovative, and we'll highlight our most innovative partners on Oracle.com/Innovation and at the OPN Forum at Oracle OpenWorld.

The below diagram shows the depth of capability Oracle can bring to bear in these types of architectures. Click on the image to read full White Paper.

1. Separate Databases
2. Shared Database, Separate Schemas
3. Shared Database, Shared Schema

This SaaS Data Architecture White Paper can help an ISV determine the trade-offs involved with each approach.

These considerations are mapped to two key factors:

1. Simplicity Of Deployment


2. Maintenance & Scalability

In addition, ISVs need to evaluate the market specific requirements of their customers. SMB buyers will likely have a different set of evaluation criteria than Financial Services companies.

Today's press release states that:

More than 500 Validated Integrations Delivered Through Oracle PartnerNetwork Application Integration Architecture for Partners Initiative to Reduce Risk and Cost for Customers

Further providing customers a simplified, low-risk and tested path to integrations, Oracle today announced it has completed over 500 validations of integration to third party software though though the Oracle PartnerNetwork Application Integration Architecture for Partners (AIAP) initiative. To date, over 170 Independent Software Vendors (ISVs) have validated integration to their solutions through the program, providing customers tested and proven integrations for the Oracle® E-Business Suite, Oracle's PeopleSoft Enterprise, JD Edwards EnterpriseOne, JD Edwards World, Siebel and other Oracle applications.

Recent ISV partners to achieve Oracle Validated Integration through Oracle AIAP include: Avaya, Axeda Corporation, Brainware, Inc., Data Systems International®, F5 Networks, HERMES SoftLab, Kaba Workforce Solutions, TimeLink, and UC4 Software, Inc.

The Oracle AIAP initiative provides partners development guidance, tools, validation testing and best practices for integrating to Oracle's broad portfolio of applications. Partner solutions can be validated across three integration and extension approaches, including cross-application business process integration, service based integration, and native application integration, to meet the different solution requirements for a wide variety of customer business scenarios.

To find more information on Oracle Validated Integration check out the below links:
Oracle Application Integration Architecture for Partners
Oracle Validated Integration criteria and benefits
Validated Integration listing on Oracle.com

Press Release: Sonata launches SaaS enablement services on the Oracle Platform for SaaS

Here's what Sonata Software Limited announced:

Leading Indian software solutions company, Sonata Software Limited, has launched enablement services for applications on the Oracle Platform for Software as a Service (SaaS). As part of this initiative Sonata will enable Independent Software Vendors (ISVs) and enterprises with custom applications to migrate their applications to the Oracle Platform for SaaS. The initiative will include providing SaaS Solution Adoption Accelerators and building a Proof of Concept for quick adoption of technology.

Speaking on the occasion, Mr Aniruddha Banerjee, Head - Technology Business, Sonata Software remarked, “Customers today are looking at getting higher Return on Investment within a short period of time. By migrating applications to the Oracle Platform for SaaS, Sonata helps product companies significantly cut time-to-market and production costs. With our experience on Oracle technologies, combined with our proven methodologies and frameworks for effective deployment, Sonata is in a unique position to help ISVs make a smooth transition to SaaS in a quick and cost-effective manner.”

Sonata and Oracle have a long-standing relationship since 1993. As the preferred migration partner for Oracle Database worldwide, and as an Oracle Certified Solutions Partner for both e-Business & core technologies, Sonata has completed several successful Oracle implementations both in India and abroad. Sonata was recognized as its Best Partner of the Year for Oracle Application - Mid Market in 2007 and the Best Partner of the Year for Oracle Application - Accelerate Solutions in 2008.

Mr Milan Thanawala, Senior Director, Oracle Corporation added, “The key to a successful SaaS deployment lies in delivering Enterprise class applications at lower cost and with reduced time to market. With their track record of providing services around high-end Oracle technologies to multiple companies from various domains, Sonata Software is ably poised to be the single point solutions provider for ISVs looking to SaaS-enable their applications."