There’s been a recent surge of questions asking whether the E-Business Suite can be used with Oracle Application Server 10g 10.1.3 and Demantra, one of our new product family members. 

Demantra Demand Management screenshot:


I’m not a Demantra specialist, but from an Apps architectural perspective, the short answer is:  yes.  There are a few things to remember about this integration:
  1. The E-Business Suite Release 11i’s application-tier runs on Oracle9i Application Server 1.0.2.2.2 only.  It must stay at this level.  It may not be upgraded to either Oracle Application Server 10g 10.1.2.x or 10.1.3.x.
  2. The E-Business Suite Release 11i can be integrated with an external server running Oracle Application Server 10g 10.1.3.x.  There are no restrictions on integrating Apps 11i with OracleAS 10.1.3.x.  We have not certified this configuration but it’s supported.  Remember that there’s an important distinction between certification and support.
  3. Alternately, if you have sufficient capacity on your existing E-Business Suite application server, you can install Oracle Application Server 10g 10.1.3.x in a separate ORACLE_HOME on an existing E-Business Suite server.
  4. You then install Demantra on top of the external Oracle Application Server 10g 10.1.3.x environment.  The standalone Demantra environment then connects to the E-Business Suite environment.
  5. Demantra is an Oracle SSO-enabled partner application, too.  If your E-Business Suite environment has been integrated with Single Sign-On 10g and Oracle Internet Directory 10g, you can integrate that combined environment with Demantra, too, to provide Single Sign-On capabilities across Apps and Demantra.
Possible Java Runtime Engine Conflicts

Demantra runs on the latest Sun Java Runtime Engine (JRE) plug-in on the desktop.  Oracle E-Business Suite’s Forms-based products run on Oracle Jinitiator on the desktop.  Depending on how your end-users run Demantra, there may be conflicts between these two Java plug-ins, notably if the same users wish to access the E-Business Suite’s Forms-based content at the same time that they’re running Demantra. 

If so, there’s light on the horizon:  we’re still in the process of certifying the native Sun JRE plug-in with the E-Business Suite.  Once that certification is complete, E-Business Suite users can use the native Sun JRE plug-in instead of Jinitiator, eliminating any conflicts.

If your organization wishes to deploy Demantra now, before the E-Business Suite’s certification of the native Sun JRE plug-in is complete, you may wish to register in our E-Business Suite Early Adopter Program.  I’m still accepting customer nominations for this Early Adopter Program; for details, see:
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