ORACLE EXADATA AT WORK

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1 SEPTEMBER/OCTOBER 2010 ORACLE.COM/ORACLEMAGAZINE The Next Stage Oracle Business Intelligence Enterprise Edition 11g sets a new standard for enterprise BI /25 Better Tools for Better Processes Oracle Unified Business Process Management Suite 11g delivers collaborative and business-friendly tools / 27 Building on Storage Create a cluster file system with Oracle Automatic Storage Management Cluster File System /67 On Popularity, Learning, and Unlearning Our technologist revisits a classic, recounts Cardinality Feedback, and remembers SQL*Plus / 71 ORACLE EXADATA AT WORK Read how organizations are measuring success with Oracle Exadata Database Security Upgrades How businesses improved security with Oracle Database security solutions Better Business Decisions with Oracle Enterprise Manager 11g Two organizations deliver businessdriven IT management

2 Special Advertising Section Dell Services: Expanding Horizons for Oracle With last year s acquisition of Perot Systems, Dell Services has a newly expanded portfolio of services and a new practice focusing on Oracle technologies. This Dell Services Oracle Practice is now in position to provide end-to-end services to Oracle users encompassing applications, middleware and the database to help companies drive complexity and cost out of the IT infrastructure. Today, the consulting industry is evolving to meet the changing needs of the companies it serves. A key development in that evolution was Dell s purchase in late 2009 of Perot Systems, the worldwide provider of information technology services and business solutions, and the integration of that organization into Dell Services. That acquisition expanded the Dell Services portfolio significantly. Perot Systems was a pioneer in the field, and a world-class provider of applications, technology, infrastructure, and consulting services. Its capabilities, combined with Dell s, means that Dell Services now has a greatly enhanced ability to provide comprehensive services to clients. A key component of this broader approach lies in the area of Oracle-related services, based on the complementary strengths of Perot Systems and Dell. Perot Systems had a consulting practice focusing on Oracle applications in place since 1995, while Dell has built up a range of services based on running Oracle database and middleware software on Dell servers and storage. Bringing these capabilities together, Dell has created the Dell Services Oracle practice to provide end-to-end services spanning business strategy, design, build, maintenance and outsourcing offerings for the range of Oracle technologies. This acquisition has created a new, major IT services provider, says Tim Daigle, Managing Director of the Oracle Practice, who came to Dell from Perot Systems. It enhances the already-strong Dell- Oracle relationship, and it opens up new options for Oracle users. Dell, Daigle explains, is a leading reseller of Oracle products across the entire product range, and the largest provider of Oracle database solutions among Oracle partners. Now, the Dell Oracle Practice can support the entire Oracle solution stack with a full suite of services. S1

3 Addressing the Key Challenges In addition to these broad Oracle-specific capabilities, the Dell Services Oracle Practice helps Oracle users meet specific IT and business challenges, with offerings that address: Business Transformation. Dell Services uses best business processes and organizational change management, coupled with Oracle ERP/SCM solutions to implement transformational business improvement for companies as they expand geographically into new markets and products. Target: Reduced IT Complexity and Cost Today, the Dell Services Oracle Practice includes some 1,100 professionals and a network of Oracle-specific centers in Brazil, China, India, Mexico, and the US. Dell is a Oracle Platinum Partner, the highest level in Oracle s partner programs. Overall, this practice is charged with supporting and extending the ongoing efforts of both Dell and Oracle to take cost and complexity out of the IT infrastructure. For most companies, 75 to 80 percent of their IT budget is spent on maintaining the status quo just keeping the lights on from an IT perspective, says Daigle. Our goal as a company is to drive that number down to under 50 percent for our customers, so that they can focus on new and strategic initiatives. The Dell Oracle Services Practice works with a wide range of Oracle technologies. It offers services focusing on applications, including the Oracle E-Business Suite, PeopleSoft, JD Edwards, Hyperion, Oracle Business Intelligence Enterprise Edition, Oracle Billing and Revenue Management, and Siebel customer relationship management applications. The practice also works with Oracle Fusion middleware and service-oriented architecture products, as well as many of Oracle s industry-specific offerings. To help companies get the most out of these technologies, the Dell Oracle Practice provides consulting that focuses on identifying opportunities for transformation or improvement through customization, modernization and maintenance. And to help companies exploit those opportunities, the practice provides development, customization, implementation, integration, testing and maintenance services. Meanwhile, Dell Services also help companies simplify data center operations with assessment, design and implementation services that focus on Oracle Database, including Real Application Clusters, in a standards-based x86 environment. These services designed to an enhance data availability while lowering the total cost of ownership are based on best practices developed through rigorous joint engineering between Dell and Oracle. Companies can also offload database administration and get customized support through Dell Services. Application management. Using a Service Level Agreement (SLA)-based delivery model, these services focus on delivering both cost-effective, reliable service and ongoing quality and productivity improvements. Delivery is based on ITIL, CMMI, and AIM methodologies, and a mix of on shore, near shore, and off shore resources tailored to the client organization s specific needs. Dell s application management services include functional and technical support, support for ancillary systems, core DBA services, infrastructure hosting, network services and help-desk support. Business intelligence. Dell helps Oracle users provide management with more comprehensive reporting on business performance, along with deep-dive analytics and dashboards to support improved decision making. The Dell Services Optimized Business Intelligence program integrates key financial and operational informational analytics throughout the organization with a focus on using best practices to standardize processes and drive profitability. Dell also provides data models for key industries, and an optimization program to jumpstart business-intelligence deployments. Master Data Management. Oracle has a growing number of pre-built Master Data Management (MDM) solutions, such Hyperion Data Relationship Management, Oracle Customer Hub, Oracle Product Hub, Oracle Site Hub and Oracle Higher Education Constituent Hub. Dell offers a portfolio of MDM services that help companies leverage those Oracle solutions. ERP Healthcheck. Dell Services ERP Healthcheck gauges how effectively an organization is leveraging its current Oracle applications, and then helps it to realize the full value of those applications. The service addresses issues by evaluating the existing deployment, mapping business requirements to the application configuration, identifying performance gaps, and providing a roadmap for filling those gaps. S2 Special Advertising Section

4 Building on Collaboration The creation of the Dell Services Oracle Practice builds on, and extends, a very long and successful relationship between Oracle and Dell. This strategic relationship has been in place for nearly 20 years, and includes the most senior levels of management at both companies, says Daigle. That relationship continues to grow, with Dell working actively with Oracle to test the new Oracle Fusion suite of applications on Dell servers. What s more, both companies use Dell and Oracle platforms in their respective operations around the world a level of experience that gives Dell Services deep insight into the day-to-day use of Oracle in running a business. For its part, Oracle relies on more than 20,000 Linux servers to power key elements of its Global IT operations. Meanwhile, Dell relies on PowerEdge servers running Oracle Database 11g in several mission-critical business systems, including its supply chain and European order management systems, while Oracle applications are used in its supply chain operations. When Dell acquired Perot Systems, those of us coming over from Perot were delighted because we knew that the new Dell Oracle practice would be able to tap into this deep relationship, says Daigle. That relationship continues to grow, he adds, with Dell working actively with Oracle to test the new Oracle Fusion suite of applications on Dell servers. At the same time, the Dell Oracle Practice has an established relationship with the Oracle Consulting organization. In fact, the two groups have gained significant practical experience in working together through their collaboration on Dell s internal IT transformation effort. This work includes implementing additional Oracle applications to support billing and the quote-to-cash process, and ultimately reducing complexity by eliminating hundreds of legacy systems. There are very few players in the industry that can do everything high-end business strategy work and global systems design to implementations and upgrades, multiyear support and application outsourcing, concludes Daigle. To Oracle users, that breadth means that they have access to the knowledge and tools they need to simplify the data center, increase productivity, and keep IT aligned with the business. For more information on the Dell Services Oracle Practice, go to or visit booth #521 at Oracle OpenWorld A Shorter Road to ROI Reduced complexity in IT can pay off in increased productivity and lower costs, and Dell Services expanded portfolio has a number of targeted services that are designed to help Oracle users move forward with improvement initiatives. These include: Migration. Dell Services continues to migrate companies from proprietary systems to Oracle and Dell Linux platforms, helping to assess re-platforming opportunities, move applications and database systems to the new platforms, and implementing Oracle RAC all of which enables companies to take advantage of low-cost, standards-based infrastructures. Pre-configured solutions. These include pre-configured analytics for the healthcare, manufacturing, consumer and packaged goods industries, as well as supply chain and human resources applications. Meanwhile, pre-configured industry solutions are available for milled products, education and state and local government. Accelerators. Dell speeds up Oracle E-Business Suite implementations with a methodology that uses Oracle Business Accelerator solutions to quickly provide scalable, industry-specific functionality. These accelerator solutions are available in pre-packaged, fixed-price, and fixed-scope application bundles. Cloud offerings, such as cloud assessments, ondemand Oracle Cloud development environments for upgrades and add-ons, and a JumpStart Cloud offering that enables accelerated ERP implementations. Special Advertising Section S3

5 YOUR POSSIBILITIES. NOW W I D E O P E N. Introducing the new Dell Services. Dell and Perot Systems are now one company with one purpose. Your purpose. Instead of coming in with a one-size-fits-all approach, we listen to what s on your mind. And then we put our technology expertise and domain knowledge to work to create effective solutions that will produce measurable results. So you can achieve whatever your vision of success looks like. It s why more industries, from healthcare to financial services to manufacturing, trust us every day. Whether it s managing your IT operations, improving your business processes, or deploying cloud computing, Dell Services delivers. Where would you like to go? As far as we re concerned, the future is wide open. Dell.com/services Applications Business Process Consulting Infrastructure Support Visit Dell booth #521 at Oracle OpenWorld 2010 Services 2010 Dell Inc. All rights reserved.