Oracle Releases Major Application Upgrade

February 5th, 2007: Oracle has announced updates to its five top product lines at its worldwide “Applications Unlimited” event this week, with E-Business Suite Release 12, PeopleSoft Enterprise Release 9.0, Siebel CRM 8.0, JD Edwards EnterpriseOne 8.12 and JD Edwards World A9.1 all launching simultaneously.

The release is significant for Oracle. Because it has been consulting directly with user groups to improve its kit, it has been able to implement a veritable tsunami of new features and enhancements.

To go by numbers of additions alone, according to Oracle E-Business Suite boasting 18 new products and 2443 new enhancements, two new products and 1478 enhancements for Peoplesoft version 9, ten new products and 366 enhancements for Siebel CRM 8, and similar numbers for the two JD Edwards releases.

On top of these, Oracle says it has also included new components such as automated upgrade scripts, more in-depth documentation than ever before and an extended partner network for extra support and end-user training.

“Today is an important day, as we release five significantly enhanced product families. These releases are proof that Oracle is delivering on its strategy to protect and extend customers’ current investments in Oracle’s leading horizontal, specialty and industry suites,” said Oracle President Charles Phillips. “We are giving our customers the choice as to when they upgrade without having to re-license their applications. This is a first in the software industry.”

With this prominent release, Oracle says it wants to offer its customers more in the way of value by helping them take advantage of next-generation technology within their current investments. The company says that these releases provide next-generation, role-based analytics, comprehensive application management, integration, search, master data management, and XML-based reporting capabilities.

While new features aren’t necessarily a magic tincture for whatever is ailing your application workflows, such a major software refresh without a license renewal will surely be music to many ears.

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