A special message to my valued Oracle clients from Santa!

Okay, in the spirit of the holidays, I need you all to humor me for a moment...

With three young children at home ages 7, 5, and 2, admittedly I am eye-balls deep in Christmas shhhtuff at Hachey Manor.

And while a tad stressful at times, having small kids around the house definitely makes the holidays more fun, and it's one of those experiences you need to treasure while you can, because someday they grow up, stop believing in Santa, dye their hair purple, pierce an eyebrow, and the fun subsides a smidge.

Anywho, in the spirit of the holidays, and with the assistance of the good folks at UgroupMedia Inc., I'm forwarding along this very special message to you, my Valued Oracle Client, from the big man himself:

Click here to view your private message from Santa!

As you view, I certainly understand that this doesn't translate perfectly to an entire company (this is where the humoring part comes in), but I thought at the very least this may be something you all may want to customize and share with your own children (And I promise, there are no Oracle licensing implications! Ba dum dum. I'm here all week. Try the veal).

Speaking from experience, my two older kids have watched their own private messages upwards of a dozen times already, with absolutely no talk of dying hair or piercing anything on their face.

Enjoy, and ho ho ho!

Join Oracle at NRF 2010!

Oracle is honored to serve as Chairman's Circle Sponsor of the NRF 99th Annual Convention and Expo. Retail's BIG Show! See full invite here.

Are you ready for an unforgettable experience at this year's NRF 99th Annual Convention and EXPO? When you join Oracle Retail at the conference, you'll find it all: exclusive networking opportunities, best practice sharing with your peers, and valuable interaction and demonstrations with Oracle experts.

Oracle values the opportunity to share the most important week for the retail industry with you. To help customize your experience at NRF, we’ve created a full agenda of networking and educational events. This summary will help you understand the opportunities to join Oracle at NRF this January.

Your next steps:

Register for NRF 2010 by clicking here. FOR FREE EXPO HALL PASSES, when prompted for "Free Expo Hall / Design Studio Pass-Code", enter Oracle's code: 408

Oracle Retail Booth and Expo Hall Location:

Jacob K. Javits Convention Center
Booth # 1319
655 West 34th Street
New York, NY 10001

All of this information and more is hosted on the Oracle Retail micro-site. Use PIN: nrf2010

Oracle is proud to sponsor a two-story booth with ample meeting space in a prime location. You won’t miss us at our front-and-center location at booth # 1319, but please make sure to stop by and visit, whether you have a meeting with an Oracle expert, are curious to learn about our product offerings, or would like to learn more about Oracle Retail in fashion, grocery, hardlines, or emerging retailing.

Oracle's version of "The Office", Episode 3

Oracle in the Cloud (a slideshow)

"Oracle in the Cloud" AWS Webinar

View more documents from Justio Kestelyn.

More cloud computing from Oracle:

Oracle Cloud Computing Center

Oracle and Amazon Web Services

Oracle in the Cloud (PDF)

EMC Saves $3M by Consolidating on Oracle Database 11g

These days, everyone is looking for ways to cut costs. EMC is no different, and is consolidating on Oracle RAC and Oracle Database 11g throughout its data center.

This has translated to a $3 million in cost avoidance savings to date.

Listen to this podcast conversation with Ramesh Razdan, Director of Enterprise Technology Services at EMC Corporation to hear how they've been able to do this, and what's next for EMC - another $7 million more in savings?

EMC also manages their 700+ Oracle databases with Oracle Enterprise Manager Grid Control.

Read more about the EMC/Oracle story off EMC's own website by clicking here.

Happy Veteran's Day!

As I was heading out the door for work early this morning, my 8 year-old neighbor came to the door and handed me a piece of paper. It read (in barely legible 8yr old handwriting):

Dear Kevin,

Thank you very much for serving our country and keeping me free. I love our country, and I love neighbors who help keep me free. I hope you weren't scared when you were at war. I would have been scared, like when I fight Dragonball Z guys on Playstation 2. G.I. Joe is cool too.

Your Pal, Jack

That about says it all, yes?

One final note. I was stationed in Saudi Arabia during the Gulf War back in 1992. That year Whitney Houston sang our National Anthem during the Super Bowl. I remember gathering in a room with about twenty other soldiers to watch the game. When Whitney sang, everyone in the room was frozen, eyes glued to a small TV we were fortunate enough to requisition for the event. I looked around and saw some of my pals actually crying. To this day, this version of the National Anthem still brings a tear to my own eyes, and if this video clip doesn't at least make your skin tingle a little bit, well, then I'm not really sure what else to say.



To my fellow Veteran's, and to all reservists and folks who are still serving active duty, Happy Veteran's Day...and thank you.

Oracle's version of "The Office"

Episode One: "Feeling the storage squeeze?"



Episode Two: "Bye-buy, idle redundancy!"

How can Oracle help you navigate the IT "Perfect Storm"?

>> With industry-leading high availability solutions

>> By significantly reducing your overall IT budget (believe it!)

>> And did someone say automation tools? Man, do we have automation tools. Like, out the wazoo.

If the slide to the left represents any of the pains your enterprise is currently experiencing, then we need to talk.

(click image to enlarge)

Live Webcast: Introducing Oracle GoldenGate

Real-Time Data Integration and Continuous Availability

Through its recent acquisition of GoldenGate Software, Oracle has accelerated its product strategy to deliver a comprehensive data integration platform and increase uptime for customers' mission-critical systems. But how can your business profit from Oracle GoldenGate products, and how do they complement your existing Oracle investments?

Join us for this live Webcast hosted by Hasan Rizvi, Senior Vice President for Oracle Fusion Middleware Product Development and Juan Loaiza, Senior Vice President Systems Technology, to get the answers!

Webcast Date and Time: November 10, 2009 @ 11am EST

Interested in registering for this live webcast? Email kevin.hachey@oracle.com today.

You'll learn how you can apply Oracle GoldenGate's real-time data integration and heterogeneous data replication capabilities to:

• Improve business insight through real-time integrations to business intelligence and data warehousing
• Maximize data availability through multi-master database configurations
• Synchronize and distribute data using bi-directional replication
• Upgrade databases, hardware and applications with zero downtime
• Replicate data between Oracle and non-Oracle systems

Other key links >> GoldenGate home page >> GoldenGate Interactive Presentation

Oracle and GoldenGate >> Oracle GoldenGate General Presentation (PDF)

Top Reasons to Have 11gR2 in Production (iSeminar)

Best thing since sliced bread?

Find out on Tuesday, October 27, 2009
11:00 a.m. PT/2:00 p.m. ET

Learn from Oracle expert, Tom Kyte, the benefits of having Oracle Database 11g Release 2 in production. Tom is a regular speaker at industry, user group, and Oracle-sponsored events, as well as a well-known author of technology texts and how-to books, and the host of the popular AskTom blog.

Tom has been working with the Oracle database since version 5.1.5c, and he will share his thoughts on Oracle Database 11g/11gR2, focusing on a number of new features, including both those he describes as "small and simple" and those he terms "large and incredible."

Don't miss this opportunity to hear directly from Tom Kyte the benefits of upgrading to 11g. This session will also feature a Q&A session.

Click here to register for this event today!

Larry Ellison on Cloud Computing

Re-embracing the Disco

Before you go digging out your old Bee Gees records, bell-bottom pants, and platform shoes, let me clarify what I mean by “Disco”.

One of the most effective tools we have here at Oracle when it comes to fully understanding a client’s – or prospective client’s – computing environment is mapping it out visually on what we call a Discovery Call, or “Disco Call” for short. We also refer to these as whiteboard sessions, which is a much more accurate reference term, but not nearly as fun to say as a “Disco Call” -- wouldn't you agree?

A somewhat technical, though not official, definition may read something like this:

Whiteboard sessions allow Oracle Account Managers and Solutions Architects to portray concepts, problems, business strategies, product solutions, and configurations remotely by using on-line, collaborative diagramming techniques.

Ultimately, whether clients have immediate or forwarding-thinking needs and initiatives that Oracle can assist with, whiteboard sessions provide the Oracle team with the intel and direction needed to best service client accounts.

As I reference in “Expectations” when describing my role at Oracle, considering that the Oracle suite evolves so often – a result of our ongoing R&D efforts and seemingly never-ending designs on acquisition – even well-educated and well-informed clients of Oracle can pick up new nuggets of information on a semi-regular whiteboard session. Such current advancements as our Database Management Packs and RUEI Accelerators (PDF) can add tremendous value to an enterprise’s operation, yet often fly under the radar and in the shadow of larger database and BI initiatives.

At the end of the day, and if nothing else, our Disco Calls are a complimentary consulting service provided by a highly trained Oracle Technician that will help structure, identify, and troubleshoot (even if clients think there is no troubleshooting needed) an enterprise’s computing environment. You will be adding value to your own operation, regardless if any procurement takes place, and as mentioned above, you will be providing your Oracle Consulting Team with the intel and direction needed to best service your account.

This is a free, invaluable service that we encourage you take advantage of.

Contact me today to re-embrace the Disco era without having to wear those darn funny clothes.

Kevin Hachey
Core Tech Account Manager
Oracle USA, Inc.
Direct: 781.238.9692
Email: kevin.hachey@oracle.com

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Cost Savings with Oracle Database 11g

Dan Morgan, Oracle ACE Director, discusses benefits of Advanced Compression, Partitioning, and other gems in Oracle Database 11g.

John Brust of Oracle hosts...Watch video on Youtube >>

The HP Oracle Exadata Storage Server - The World's Fastest Database Machine!

Oracle Exadata is a family of high performance storage software and hardware products that can improve data warehouse query performance by a factor of 10X or more. Oracle Exadata Storage is a combination of smart storage software from Oracle and industry-standard hardware from HP. Overcoming the limitations of conventional storage, Oracle Exadata uses a massively parallel architecture to dramatically increase data bandwidth between the database server... Read more >>

Week one: In the books

Prior to starting my first day with Oracle USA, Inc., one of my good friends - coming up on his first year anniversary with the enterprise software giant - described his own early experiences like this:

"It's like drinking from a fire hose, man. There is a LOT of information to process. Wear a wetsuit."

Well, with an entire week of employment at Oracle safely behind me, I can certainly support my pal's cliche as hardly hyperbole. So much so that I can hardly pick an area to briefly comment on in this blog since everything I've been exposed to thus far - even after just seven days - is so broad and daunting. A challenge, however, I welcome with open arms and an opportunity I am extremely eager to embrace.

Other observations?

There are a lot of very smart people here. Or, as we say here in Boston, everyone is wicked smaht. Passionate too, and rightly so. I think you have to be in order to excel in this environment, and I hope to fit right in.

Going forward, please check in from time-to-time on this blog as I pass along product and service information, as well as my own personal experiences here at the "O".

Should be fun...

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