2007, the birth of Fusion applications.

We are only a few months away from building the next generation applications. Ones that could very well rewrite Oracle's fortunes. Ones that could potentially bring the application industry behemoth SAP to its knees and ones that could make Larry Ellison's dream real...beat Microsoft. Given that the stakes are too high, Oracle needed a remarkable person to lead this change. Who better than John Wookey known for his prowess in this field, can realise this dream project? He is been attributed to having the toughest job in the Silicon Valley by the Business Week. Read this: http://www.businessweek.com/magazine/content/06_04/b3968086.htm

Two years ago when Oracle announced this, I was skeptical. I couldn't believe that it is possible to bring out an application suite that has the best features of Peoplesoft, JD Edwards, Oracle and of course Siebel which came in later, by 2008. I never doubted the technical expertise that Oracle has but it has always been the schedule that baffled me. I put this very question to John himself when he was here in Hyderabad a few months ago. He did not give me any plan or statistic but he just told me ' Heck, I do not care if you or Larry believe that the schedule is unrealistic. I believe that it can be done.' Talk about confidence huh!

Given that the fusion suite is going to include the best features of all the product lines and that it is going to be built on the next generation technology stack, I think its time I start blogging on the very definition of 'Fusion application'. I mean basic things like what does it look like, what will it be built on and how the offering is going to differentiate itself from SAP's products in the market.

I am going to dedicate my next few blogs discussing these things. Look out for them.

Wishing you all a very happy and prosperous 2007.

Disclaimer: All the opinions expressed here are solely mine and do not necessarily reflect those of Oracle Corporation.

New album from Taylor

American Idol 2006 winner and one of my favorite entertainers is releasing his first big album. It is due in December and is titled 'Taylor Hicks'. Can't wait to grab one of the shelves but I guess I have to wait as I am in India. He was on 'The tonight show' recently and performed one of his singles from that album. It was amazing and he has packed it with everything that the 'Soul Patrol' expects. You can catch it on YouTube http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ggt2ns8EQrc

This is why I call him an entertainer and not just a singer or a rocker. Go Taylor Go!!!