Oracle Integration Architecture

Oracle Integration Architecture is part of the Applications Unlimited policy. "Oracle has bought many best-of-breed and industry specific applications, and now we need to make them work together"

When Oracle EBS 11i was launched in 2001, the key message was "suite not kit", that is have an integrated business system rather than a number of different applications bolted together. Memories of the Oracle Rocky Horror show at Appsworld Paris, saw an Oracle musical outlining the folly of the best of breed approach.

So have Oracle done a U-Turn?

In terms of market penetration, the Oracle EBS would have needed to take customers away from their best of breed applications and to use Oracle HR, CRM, Financials etc., as well as meeting the needs of the SME's. Given the investment by many organisations in PeopleSoft, Siebel, JD Edwards, and a host of other applications, it would have taken Oracle many years to persuade customers to move to the Oracle EBS replacing their existing systems. The quickest way to gain that market and customer base was through acquisition. Within 6 years of the launch of 11i, Oracle have the customer base of the best of breed applications.

Fusion is still the ultimate goal of Oracle, so ultimately the "suite" should become more dominant than "kit". However, as Jose Lazares, Oracle VP for Applications Development outlines, Oracle Application Integration Architecture is an alternative migration strategy to Fusion "Adopting this looser abstraction between systems means that CIO's can plug in Oracle Fusion modules and evolve to it over time"

So with Applications Unlimited providing ongoing development with Oracle release 12, Lifetime Support protecting investment in 11i systems, and Application Integration Architecture bringing the best of breed applications together, it would seem that organizational investment will be preserved and business driven migration plans can be drawn up.

However - what are the timescales, and what precisely will be integrated, and what happens to current investments with Fusion?

Information: Interview with John Wookey and Jose Lazares
(Oracle SVP & VP Applications Development)

Oracle Applications Integrated Architecture
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