Oracle OpenWorld Blog

BMW Oracle Racing Trimaran Competes for the 33rd America's Cup

Did you see the scale model of BMW Oracle Racing's Extreme 40 catamaran staged outside of the Howard Street Tent when you visited Oracle OpenWorld 2009? Did you get a chance to meet the BMW Oracle Racing tem members at the SLAM retail shop? Did know that those guys are taking the BMW ORACLE giant trimaran to the waves off the coast of Valencia, Spain, this week to compete for the 33rd America's Cup? Of course you did—that's why you read this blog!

Race 1 for the Cup was scheduled for Monday, but race officer Harold Bennett and the race committee team were unable to identify an appropriate wind for the first 20-mile leg.

"It was a good call," BMW ORACLE Racing's navigator Matteo Plazzi conceded. "Racing today would have been a gamble, and you don't want to gamble when there are only two points to win or lose." Instead, race organizers have rescheduled the first contest for Wednesday, February 10.

If you want to support the guys you met at last year's show as they pilot BMW ORACLE Racing's giant trimaran, you can catch all the action online. The America's Cup Website has live updates and streaming video from the shores of Valencia. You can also get updates directly from the BMW Oracle Racing Team through their Twitter feed and Facebook page.

So slip on your boat shoes, batten down your hatches, and cheer the BMW Oracle Racing Team on to victory from the comfort of your own deck chair.

Video Series: Overreacting to Oracle Acquisition

It seems our over-dressed friends are at it again. Oracle's recent acquisition of Sun has lead to a few misunderstandings about community support and product longevity—and even conference confusion. But everything can be clarified with a little explanation and a lot of costuming.

Check out the new Overreacting to Oracle Acquisition playlist on the Oracle WebVideo YouTube channel. If you were one of those with apprehension about how Sun community members would be affected, these short—and hopefully humorous—clips should shed a light on any area where you might be concerned. For Oracle OpenWorld Blog readers, one of the most important items to note about the Sun transition is what's going to happen to JavaOne.

JavaOne is going to be co-located with Oracle Develop during this year's Oracle OpenWorld and will focus solely on Java Technology and its associated ecosystem. In addition, JavaOne and Oracle Develop will be hitting the road, heading to Brazil, Russia, India, and China in the months ahead.

If you still have questions about the Oracle + Sun combination, download the official Overview and Frequently Asked Questions for the Developer Community. You can also watch the Oracle + Sun Product Strategy Webcast Series to see roadmaps for some of Sun's major product lines. Or, post a comment here and we'll track down the answers.

Oracle + Sun Strategy Update Webcast on Wednesday

Oracle's acquisition of Sun will be finalized any day now, so it's sure to be a hot topic at Oracle OpenWorld 2010. But if you want a sneak peak at some of the strategies and product roadmaps you'll see at this year's show, don't miss the Oracle + Sun Strategy Update Webcast on Wednesday.

Oracle CEO Larry Ellison will be joined by executives from Oracle and Sun for the live Webcast starting at 9 a.m. PT on January 27. They'll be letting you in on many of the plans Oracle has for its new line of products.

So, tune in if you want to get a head start on some of the show's discussions about transforming the way you buy, run, and manage your IT. We'll be looking forward to your comments here—and at the show.

Oracle OpenWorld Attendees Share Concerns about Virtualization

Where you one of the 1,200 surveyed by Dimension Data about virtual machines while you were at Oracle OpenWorld 2009? We recently noticed an article on the Computer Business Review site sharing some of the results, and we wanted to find out if your opinions had changed since then.

According to most of the survey's participants, virtualization is a great way to save money—and we agree. But 78% of the respondents reported that they had experienced performance issues while running their applications virtually. This is one of the main reasons more are not turning to virtualization to run their mission-critical operations.

In the last three months since the show, have your opinions changed? What kinds of things did you see and hear at the 2009 event that made you reconsider your opinion of virtualization? We're curious about how your conversations have evolved since the show.

We also wanted to point out some virtualization resources to you so that by the time Oracle OpenWorld 2010 rolls around, you'll be able to share a more confident opinion with anyone asking. Check out the Oracle Virtualization Blog, and don't miss the video from Adam Hawley, Director of Oracle VM, on YouTube. And, if there are specific subjects you'd like to see covered in this year's show, let us know. We're virtually obsessed with covering the topics that concern you.

(Photo by Jill Clardy, available under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-Share Alike license.)

A Conversation With OAUG President Ray Payne

These days, when Oracle Applications Users Group (OAUG) members gather at events like Oracle OpenWorld to talk shop, they often discuss infrastructure technologies such as SOA and business process management. As an Oracle ACE and president of OAUG, Ray Payne was a busy guy at Oracle OpenWorld, eager to talk about OAUG on the cusp of its 20th year. In 1993, about 600 members attended their annual conference. Today, the group has grown to more than 1 million contacts around the globe, forming more than 100 special interest groups (SIGs), and requiring 53 separate meetings at conferences like Oracle OpenWorld.

Oracle Magazine Senior Editor Jeff Erickson sat down with Ray Payne to discuss what's on the mind of OAUG members.

Our Favorite Moments from Oracle OpenWorld 2009

This is our final update for 2009, and we wanted to bring you a brief look back at this year. Over the last 12 months, we shared 144 entries, dozens of videos, and a few harmless diversions with you. You've returned the favor with hundreds of retweets, countless trackbacks, and numerous comments on our updates. As we close out the decade, here are some of our favorite moments from Oracle OpenWorld 2009:

3. Over-Dressed for Oracle OpenWorld Series- We had a lot of fun highlighting a handful of the hundreds of activities available at the conference this year.

2. Aerosmith's Return- After Steven Tyler's accident at the Sturgis Motorcycle Rally, the band got back in the saddle with an outstanding Appreciation Night set.

1. Scott McNealy SUNday Keynote- The Sun Microsystems chairman and co-founder emphasized how and why innovation is at the core of more than 25 years of success.

If you have a favorite Oracle OpenWorld 2009 moment—whether it was here on the blog or on the show floor—tell us about it in the comments. And, as always, let us know what you want to see more of as we innovate together into the next decade. Until next year, have a safe and prosperous 2010.

Most Popular Stories of the Year

The Oracle OpenWorld news desk is relatively calm right now, which gives us a chance to catch up on one of our other favorite Web publications: Profit Online. But since we still have some holiday shopping to do, we're counting on the wisdom of the crowd to narrow our list of must-read articles.

Profit Online's top-viewed stories of 2009 range from the practical—technology implementation and innovation pieces—to the more subtle, for example, enlightened management. Of course, budget seems to interest everyone these days. Here are the Top 10 ranked by popularity:

1. Applications Express: A Crash Course in Modernization
2. Profit Online Special Report: Project Management
3. Leading with Heart
4. Profit Online Special Report: Web 2.0
5. Special Report: CRM
6. Listening to the Kids: What You Can Learn From the Newest Crop of Entrepreneurs
7. Disaster Recovery—People, Not Data: Can You Prepare Your Workforce for When Tragedy Strikes?
8. First SOA Success: Principles of Composite Application Design
9. Special Report: OpenWorld 2009
10. New Problems, New Rules: Why Today's Challenges Require a Different Kind of Conversation

Happy holidays and best wishes for 2010 from all of us at the Oracle OpenWorld blog.

Iron Man 2 Trailer Hits the Web

We don't usually spend much time talking about movies here on the Oracle OpenWorld Blog, but we saw something recently that looked a bit familiar, and we wanted to share it with you.

Is it our imagination, or does the Stark Expo in the new "Iron Man 2" trailer look similar to a certain large information technology event? Sure, we've never seen our founder zoom on stage in an iron suit before, but wasn't that the Terminator talking about innovation just last October?

We're going to keep a close eye on this situation for you—since our last work with Marvel was so rewarding—and when we can announce more Iron Man-related Oracle events, we'll share them here. By the way, Iron Man 2 hits U.S. theaters May 7, 2010.

Ride Along Winners Tell Their Tales

One benefit of using the Early Bird registration for Oracle OpenWorld 2009 was being included in the drawing to win a once-in-a-lifetime ride with Team Oracle. Our lucky winners, Ryan Wagner and Ilene Vu, had to endure some last-minute schedule changes thanks to the deluge we got during the show, but as you can see from the video above, their flights were unforgettable.

"The ride was unbelievable and very, very awesome," Ilene told us. "The pilot was a very nice guy and very informative. He made the ride fun and not so scary. The ride itself was remarkable."

Ryan got in town early enough to spend some time with Team Oracle's famous aerobatic pilot Sean Tucker at Fleet Week. "I really enjoyed getting to talk to Sean on Sunday at the air show," Ryan said. "He never ceases to amaze me with his energy and positive attitude. He has been my air show idol for a long time. There have been many times I drove 8-plus hours just to watch him fly for 15 minutes."

About the show itself, Ilene added, "This was my first time at OpenWorld, and I did learn a great deal. I'm used to going to OHUG, so this was very, very large for me. I'd be happy to come back again next year."

"I'll never forget the Aerosmith concert," she continued. "There are no words to describe that whole night. Oracle went all out for their customers. I had a wonderful time that night!"

We're planning some great events for the 2010 show, so stayed tuned for updates. And, if you want to be one of the earliest of early birds, register now for Oracle OpenWorld 2010—it's only 282 days away!

Another Way to Learn

Sharing experiences. Comparing notes with people who have gone through something similar. That's one of the best ways we learn. And that's why some of this year's best Oracle OpenWorld programs came directly from participants in the Unconference sessions.

In this video, Oracle's Jeff Erickson interviews Babu Nagappan from Collective Brands. Babu signed up to lead an Unconference session on converting from Lawson to Oracle's PeopleSoft system. Find out what he planned to share—and what he hoped to learn.

It's never too early to start planning for next year, so for more insight on what the Unconference is all about—and the wide range of topics that can be explored in this informal, interactive setting, watch Marius Ciortea from Oracle, Rich Niemiec from TUSC, and Jonathan Lewis from JL Computer Consultancy.