Oracle WebCenter and Adobe

On October 24^th, 2006 Rahul B. Patel, vice president, Oracle Server Technologies showed a packed Oracle Open World audience a new product. It was much more than the next iteration of the Oracle Portal application. It has evolved into a modern and open framework for managing internal content, external information, and collaboration tools. It is expected to enable web 2.0-style enterprise mash-ups. Our customers should be able to put almost anything on the page. The new declarative framework is even planned to understand data and controls from Oracle, Siebel, PSFT, and JDEdwards. It would house HTML, ADF Faces rich client Ui regions, not to mention RSS feeds, Wiki, and blog content. It is called WebCenter.

WebCenter also includes an integration with Adobe Flex. About a year ago, a couple of us started to investigate this in the context of the user interaction benefits that the rich Flash experience could offer. But how could it evolve to be an enterprise platform? Before we could articulate this question Adobe announced the publication of the Flash Ajax Bridge and their new Flex product. This meant that they were betting on standards, as well as the need for enterprise users to experience the same benefits of rich interactivity and performance currently being enjoyed by consumers.

 In the recent past we have seen UI technology and UI trends travel from enterprise to consumer software. This is now reversed. Adobe, Google, and Yahoo offer prime examples of rich UI, search, and content services permeating the consumer mindset and then creating the same expectation for enterprise software users. For example: "Johny" searches for car parts via Google, uses his Yahoo mail, and then visits a Flash enabled Website with video. His metaphors, expectations of UI performance, and L&F tastes are now set in stone. He has sampled a really good Cabernet Sauvignon and is forever spoiled (Ask me how I know...I got married in a boutique St. Helena, Napa winery). Johny will carry these new expectations to work where he might have to provision users, manage human resource information, tweak BPEL workflows, or monitor middleware component performance on an IT dashboard.

Adobe and Oracle collaborating (see Oracle Press Release) to enable rich enteprise Ui platforms may allow us to meet this expectation. Here is an example where Flash portlets are embedded in the Oracle WebCenter UI chrome. That fascinating part is achieving inter-portlet communication between disparate content contained in the page. In the first screen the end user is able to move the slider for price and the phones on the right animate, reducing, or increasing the number of choices. The user can also see availability of the phones through an integration with Google Maps, as well as put the phones into a cart.

 The second screen shows a business analyst scenario, where sales phone data can be analyzed, drilled, and reconfigured, all using real-time interactive UIs.

It all translates to choice for Oracle customers. The new framework is expected to allow for a plurality of solutions, be it Flash, HTML, ADF Faces, or other Web 2.0 elements. WebCenter, leveraged for the Ui shell for Oracle Fusion Applications, is also expected to bring flexibility, customization, powerful Secure Enteprise Search, easy SOA integration, and openness of the standalone product.

Just a reminder that what I am providing herein is for informational purposes. It is not a commitment to deliver any material, code, or functionality, and should not be relied upon in making purchasing decisions.  The development, release, and timing of any features or functionality described in this document remains at the sole discretion of Oracle.
This document is for informational purposes only and may not be incorporated into a contract or agreement.

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