Product Intelligence Report

Transcription

1 June 30, 2014 Charlotte Dunlap Current Analysis Senior Analyst, Application JJ Summary Competitive Strengths provides various developer framework and MEAP suite options Oracle leverages SOA Foundation to provide mobile service integration New MBaaS offering via Mobile Cloud Service targets new developer communities MAF caters to traditional Java developers and supports HTML5/JavaScript app development MEAP strategy leverages the elasticity of Exalogic engineered system CAF plays a large role in mobility, providing the backend cloud infrastructure Competitive Weaknesses Oracle is late to market with a MEAP strategy/offering Oracle s comprehensive mobile portfolio requires significant investment Channel involvement is unclear at this time around Oracle s MEAP offering Current Perspective: Very Strong Oracle has only officially entered the MEAP space in the last several months, significantly later than key application platform and MEAP rivals IBM and SAP, as Oracle chose to take a different course from its peers. Oracle looks at mobility as being part of an omni-channel, where mobile apps leverage existing backend integration and security technologies to integrate with its backend servers, databases, and enterprise app platforms. Rather than acquire mobile app platforms technology as competitors have, Oracle is extend- Europe +33 (0) Or visit our Web site: 1

2 ing its enterprise middleware solutions to mobile apps leveraging its mature backend integration services, security, and tools in an effort to attract and support mobile developers. The result was Oracle s late 2013 announcement of the, currently consisting of components from Oracle s flagship Fusion Middleware technology as well as ADF Mobile, which are packaged as a standalone product called Application Framework (MAF). With MAF, Oracle is emphasizing the ability to support both web and mobile development, while includes a more comprehensive offering including security, mobile application management, MBaaS, mobile web development, content management, and website management. The MEAP is offered in both on-premises and cloud versions. also includes Suite (and Security not discussed in this report). Mobile Suite is aimed at helping developers take their existing enterprise applications and mobilize them, or build new mobile apps, whether they are custom or packaged apps. It includes mobile client development technology; data source integration tools from Oracle enterprise service bus, which has been extended to create and shape REST JSON services; integrated security with single sign-on (SSO) and adaptive access management and governance; integration with Oracle s Mobile Security Suite for MAM and other third-party MDM/MAM vendors; deployment; and management capabilities. Mobile Suite is targeted specifically at on-premises delivery. Oracle has made tremendous strides in recent months not only in articulating its mobile strategy, but also in breaking out mobile components, such as Mobile, so that channel partners (e.g., SIs) can access them without having to purchase the company s broader middleware platform. Oracle continues to strengthen its mobile messaging, announcing earlier this year a new MBaaS offering, referred to as the Cloud Service, which will become available this summer. Oracle differentiates from traditional BaaS, MBaaS, and MEAP providers by leveraging its enterprise-grade technologies, such as Oracle SOA architecture and identity management. It sees customers in the finance and banking arenas as key targets for its on-premises backend integration capabilities and mobile services. Oracle is offering its middleware, database, and now as part of a private cloud in the data center through Exalogic integrated systems and as part of a public cloud through Oracle Cloud. Oracle s go-to-market strategy is to demonstrate to its traditional customers how to mobilize their vast portfolio of Oracle applications. This has been enabled over the years through Oracle s progress in its efforts to integrate key mobile components into the Fusion Middleware platform, including WebSockets, JSON, security capabilities, and API management. Oracle s ability to offer a comprehensive mobile app development environment will help it to differentiate and attract the attention of CIOs as enterprises continue to adopt mobile applications and mobile app platforms. Its ability to offer core components, including middleware, database, mobile, and infrastructure, in the cloud (and as a managed service) opens up options for its customers DevOps teams as they venture into challenging new application development territory. Now Oracle must continue to prove its commitment to mobility and reaching a broader developer audience beyond Fusion users, especially considering how late it is to the game. How well Oracle executes on its new technology offering, including establishing channel programs with attractive licensing models that will attract SIs and service providers, will determine its success in this competitive market segment. Target Markets Small to Medium Enterprises, Large Enterprises, Global 2000 Europe +33 (0) Or visit our Web site: 2

3 JJ Strengths and Weaknesses Strengths consists of components of Fusion, Mobile Application Framework (MAF), and ADF Faces. Oracle places heavy emphasis on its framework s ability to support integrated web and mobile development for true omni-channel marketing (supporting systems of engagement). Mobile includes Suite, which helps developers mobilize existing enterprise applications or build new mobile apps. It includes development technology; data source integration tools via Oracle ESB, for rapid creation of mobile-centric REST APIs; security; deployment; and management capabilities (on-premises). Oracle fields one of the most comprehensive enterprise application infrastructures in the industry, spanning database, applications, and application platforms including SOA Foundation, which represents Oracle s mobile service integration. Mobile integration was enabled through Oracle s support for REST services/apis. Oracle s mobile technology fits well into its SOA architectural model from a high level, providing for inevitable growth enterprises may experience in the way of infrastructure (i.e., in-memory computing), security (including identity management and perimeter security of APIs), or backend data access. Oracle API Gateway helps ensure security on-premises or in the cloud by managing access to APIs. Oracle is taking the mobile app platform it has developed over the past 12 months and now offering it as a cloud service to ensure a smoother development process: for example, through WebLogic Server clusters to provide elasticity. The new MBaaS offering, referred to as the Oracle Mobile Cloud Service, differentiates from traditional BaaS, MBaaS, and MEAP solutions by leveraging Oracle s enterprise-grade technologies. Since the mobile service eases app development and deployment by including connectivity and security, Oracle sees it as a way to go after new developer communities. Mobile Application Framework aims to tackle issues with slow performing mobile apps built using HTML5, versus native code. Oracle chalks this dilemma up to Java-heavy experienced enterprise developers (lacking mobile skills), so it is leveraging those skillsets through declarative development of HTML5 and JavaScript components via its mobile development tools, both Eclipse and JDeveloper. Oracle s mobile platform/suite is optimized to leverage Oracle s next-generation IT platform, Exalogic Elastic Cloud appliance, which is positioned as Oracle s highest performance engineered system for use as an IaaS. Oracle Java Cloud Service (PaaS) was added to Exalogic last year to automate app development/deployment. Exalogic s primary selling point is the magnitude of performance gains (increasing the ROI) for Oracle s core technologies (database, applications, and middleware) running on an integrated system. The appliance will appeal to Oracle customers looking to deploy mobile applications more efficiently, because it does not require the integration/ build-out of a complex infrastructure. Oracle Cloud Application Foundation (CAF), a unified platform between conventional and cloud environments, represents a growing piece of Oracle s mobile strategy. Through integrated WebLogic and Coherence in-memory computing, whether CAF is running on Exalogic private cloud deployments or on third-party clouds, Oracle s go-to-market strategy is to promote CAF as the backend cloud infrastructure to increase productivity on the developer side, provide enhanced performance through caching, and enable mobile apps that support device-rich end-to-end interactions. Enhancements to CAF have been heavily driven by Oracle s middleware organization, including the addition of an application development framework last summer. Europe +33 (0) Or visit our Web site: 3

4 Weaknesses Oracle has unfolded its MEAP strategy over the last several months, playing catch-up to IBM and SAP in generating buzz around its technology, including differentiators. It has taken the vendor longer than rivals to formalize the potential of the varied mobile technologies it had already built in the form of ADF. Comprehensive technologies within Oracle s middleware and SOA portfolio require a significant investment by enterprises looking for comprehensive mobile solutions including security, management, and backend integration. While Oracle is looking to attract broader developers via Cloud Service, a number of alternatives have already emerged including cloud versions from pure-play MEAP providers and mobile services available through popular PaaS offerings. There has been a lack of detail around how the channel will make money from Oracle s MEAP offering. Its mobile/cloud channel strategy is not clear; nor is it clear whether Oracle s channel partners including SIs and SPs will be comfortable with Oracle s current licensing structure. Metrics Development Rating: Very Strong Eclipse IDE support Location runtime services Visual Studio IDE support No Push runtime services Xcode IDE support No Local storage ios platform support Client-side encryption of persisted data Android platform support Authentication Windows platform support No App update BlackBerry platform support No App configuration Tablets/notebooks platform support Remote logging control/retrieval Native language support Support for server-side object caching HTML5 language support PHP language support No JavaScript language support Python language support No CSS language support Ruby language support No Native architecture support.net language support No Hybrid architecture support Java language support Mobile web architecture support Node.js language support SMS architecture support XML protocol support Bytecode architecture support REST protocol support Third-party APIs supported SOAP protocol support Backend integration protocols supported JSON protocol support Offline data sync Europe +33 (0) Or visit our Web site: 4

5 Cloud Deployment Rating: Leader On-premises Hybrid/Cloud-based MEAP Vendor-specific cloud integration Applications portability to other (cloud IaaS/ PaaS) platforms? Security / MGT Rating: Strong Performance documentation Dev/test lifecycle OpenID authentication Deploy lifecycle Cross platform single sign-on Update lifecycle App Usage Analytics Visual IDE Application Scanning MAM Device end-user feedback capability Enterprise App Store Location aware access Logs versus log analysis tools Identity Propagation Oauth authentication Encrypted data store on device Certificate authentication Encryption of communications SSO authentication Integration Rating: Leader Open API services/mgt Integration with SOA services REST library Connectors MBaaS Orchestration Push notifications Storage Professional Services / Channel (Go To MKT) Rating: Very Strong Pre-built mobile apps available Pricing Direct/indirect sales percentage breakdown Global services On premise is licensed by processors and # of mobile clients / applications. Cloud is licensed by # of API calls. The compute and platform services and pricing is transparent to the customer. Information unavailable Oracle has a sizable global consulting service that provides business and technical services and range of partners including VARs, ISVs and SIs Europe +33 (0) Or visit our Web site: 5