Simba Technologies' CEO Corner

Oracle buys Sun

Wow!  What interesting news this morning about Oracle buying Sun.  Four very interesting things here:

1. Oracle Database Machine

Oracle has already partnered with HP for the Database Machine but now Oracle can deliver this all by themselves.  Here is a way Oracle can be even bigger in the data warehouse appliance space.

2. MySQL

Not sure what this means for MySQL as Oracle already owns the database space.  I assume MySQL will not really be pushed as an enterprise grade offering any more.

3. Solaris

Oracle has been pushing Unbreakable Linux for a few years now so it will be interesting how this fits with Solaris.  How would you merge these two products into one OS?

4. Java

This is very interesting.  IBM, SAP, and Oracle have been focusing on building their stacks on the Java platform.  However, now that Oracle controls Java (I know, Java is open), but now that Oracle is in charge, IBM and SAP become even more dependent on components from a competitor.  Great for Oracle, not so good for IBM and SAP.

I commented a while back on a New York Times article about Microsoft buying SAP (http://blogs.simba.com/simba_technologies_ceo_co/2008/03/if-larry-elliso.html) and now that Oracle has acquired Sun, I think a Microsoft and SAP tie-up is even more important for those two companies to be able to compete with Oracle in the enterprise space.  Don't get me wrong, I think Microsoft and SAP on their own are both competing well in the enterprise space, just combining the two would be even more potent.

Java and XMLA? You Bet!

I have had a number of questions recently about Java and XMLA.  People have asked if you need to know .NET to work with XMLA.  The answer is that XMLA works in both the Java and the .NET worlds.

We have seen XMLA Providers built using .NET and IIS and we have seen XMLA Providers built using Java and JBoss.  The nice part about XMLA and MDX is that they are not platform dependent.  So, on the server side, yes, you can implement XMLA in both Java and .NET.

What about XMLA consumers?  Again, the answer is that Java works well for XMLA consumers.  In the .NET world, Microsoft has implemented ADOMD.NET which is an object framework to connect to Microsoft Analysis Services.  Microsoft could just as easily have created ADOMD.J – i.e. a Java based object framework to connect to Microsoft Analysis Services.  In fact, if you are interested in something like ADOMD.J, send me a comment, I would love to discuss further.