Earlier this month, after Oracle announced its acquisition of insurance software maker Admin Server, I asked this question:

Is this Oracle’s big break into the insurance market?

At that point, it may have been hard to say. But this week, after Oracle made yet another acquisition announcement, many are saying it’s likely that the software giant is ready to dominate the insurance market.

Oracle will acquire Skywire Software, an insurance software provider and maker of applications for insurance policy life cycle management, in a deal that’s expected to close in the second half of 2008.

Matthew Josefowicz, director of Novarica’s insurance practice, was quoted in this Insurance and Technology article as saying:

“If the acquisition of AdminServer was Oracle’s planting the flag on the shore of the insurer software business, the subsequent acquisition of Skywire Software is a declaration of Manifest Destiny.”

In Oracle’s official press release, President Charles Phillips clearly suggests that the Skyware acquisition will not be the last of Oracle’s steps into the insurance software industry:

“Insurance is a strategic industry for Oracle with growth focused on integrated packaged applications,” he said. “Adding Skywire Software to our growing portfolio of insurance software products further accelerates our investment in and commitment to providing the most modern and complete software solutions for this industry.”

Now the next questions: Will other vendors follow Oracle’s lead with acquisitions? Will Oracle have to fight with Microsoft, IBM or SAP for the top spot in the insurance software industry?

Let’s take a look at these vendors’ current insurance offerings:

Microsoft: Microsoft’s latest insurance software addition is just one of many that use Microsoft’s own .NET Framework.  In this article, Celent analyst Donald Light says that he thinks Microsoft will continue to “stick to its guns to not buy outside software vendors.”

IBM: IBM continues to develop its own insurance solutions, such as these new SOA-powered applications. Light says that he thinks IBM will continue its partner-based (rather than acquisition-based) approach.

SAP: Light seems to think that SAP could go either way - - decide to stick with its “homegrown products” or make insurance software vendor acquisitions. SAP’s SOA-based insurance products have been gaining popularity recently in the industry.

So, while it seems like Oracle is the only one making the big acquisitions (anyone surprised?) at the moment in the insurance software industry, only time will tell if others will follow suit. What do you think?

Oracle’s 11g database has received some less-than-stellar press recently — The Pythian Group accused Oracle of releasing misleading adoption rates, and some Eye on Oracle readers don’t see many compelling reasons to upgrade.

The new database does, however, have plenty of new tools. And while they may be costly and time-consuming at first, many users are finding these features very valuable.

So, you ask…what are they?

In no particular order, here is my list of the top five features in 11g that make your upgrade worthwhile, along with some resources to help get you started.

1. Database Replay Tool: This tool provides users with a new way to test database changes and “works like a DVR inside the database,” according to Oracle Corp. in its step-by-step instructions. Before making a change (such as debugging, applying a patch or switching platforms), a user can use Database Replay to capture a database workload and replay it in a test system. Oracle ACE Lutz Hartmann calls it an 11g highlight, and Tim from ORACLE-BASE also provides a thorough explanation on how to use it.

2. SQL Performance Analyzer: This new feature shows the user how a database change, such as an upgrade, would affect SQL performance and allows one to compare different results. Check out SearchOracle.com’s chapter download from the book “Oracle Database 11g SQL” to learn about the optimizer in more detail. Also, you can find some more examples in Tyler Muth’s blog and Oracle’s Database Performance Tuning Guide. 

3. Real Application Testing: Real Application testing is the product that combines the Database Replay Tool and SQL Performance Analyzer.  The best part of this feature is the ability to detect potential problems with database changes, and see how these changes will affect performance, before actually putting them into production. Read Oracle’s description of Real Application Testing and SearchOracle.com’s conversation with Oracle executives about the product.

4. Data Recovery Advisor: This is one of the new backup and recovery features of 11g. The Data Recovery Advisor automatically diagnoses a problem (such as a physical corruption or datafile inconsistency) and gives repair advice, which the DBA can then choose whether or not to execute. Both Oracle and DBA Ben Prusinski give thorough descriptions of this and other 11g backup and recovery tools.

5.  Oracle Data Guard: This tool protects Oracle data by creating and maintaining standby databases that are synchronized with the original production database. If the production database goes down, the standby database can prevent data loss by taking over its role. Data Guard is not a new feature but is certainly enhanced in 11g. This includes failover enhancements, an Active Data Guard option, enhanced security and more — all of which can be read about here.

What are your favorite tools? If you’ve upgraded, what have your experience been like with these tools? If you haven’t upgraded, are these features enough of a reason to do so?

What would you think if you said “something not unambiguously positive about Oracle WebCenter” on the official Oracle Wiki, only to have all the negativity in your comment edited out?

This is exactly what happened to Stan Vesterli, who made the criticism part of a (failed) experiment. The Denmark-based Oracle professional wanted to see if the Wiki could actually be a place where pro/con discussions about Oracle tools could take place.

Instead, he was “flamed by an Oracle product manager, and any trace of negativity (was) edited out of one of his pages,” Vesterli wrote.

He has not revealed what it was that he actually wrote on the Wiki.

I took a look at the Wiki’s Rules of Conduct, and under the “Create appropriate content” subcategory is the statement:

“Do not use the Oracle Wiki as a platform for political or personal views/opinions, personal publishing projects, or shameless self-promotion (get a blog for that).”

Yes, maybe what he posted was somewhat of a “personal opinion,” (or was it, if based on a weakness that could be proven?). But doesn’t that somewhat defeat the purpose of the Wiki in the first place?

This CMS blogger points out that in the end, Wiki owners have the last say, even if others don’t agree with their moderation tactics. As the customer, we have to be aware of their right to keep damaging information away from competitors.

Which prompts the question: What’s the point? If Oracle’s editing out anything that’s “not unambiguously positive,” is the Wiki a useful source of information? How much credence do you give it? Is it a Wiki or just more product marketing from Oracle?

Oracle has done it again.

No, it hasn’t announced another “mystery facility,” dodged questions about the success of 11g once more (that we know of) or released another community-based tool for its users.

It’s making another acquisition — this time acquiring AdminServer, a provider of insurance policy administration software that will work in conjunction with Oracle’s existing insurance-related products. The deal has the potential to make Oracle a direct competitor with companies in the insurance market, including SunGuard and its current applications rival SAP.

“This acquisition is likely to shake up the status quo in the sleepy insurance software segment, and could possibly spark a fresh wave of mergers and acquisitions,” Madan Sheina, an analyst at Ovum, wrote in a research note.

Sheina also said that “this is the first time that a leading enterprise software maker has bought a specialist insurance software firm in order to strengthen its position.”

According to Information Week, AdminServer’s employees will merge with Oracle to form a “global business unit within Oracle focusing on the insurance industry.” They will offer software for managing multiple insurance product lines, rather than the commonly used legacy policy administration applications.

Financial details of the deal, which is expected to close by the end of the month, have not been disclosed. But Oracle did release this document, which explains everything from business rationale to product strategy to customer and partner benefits.

Although it’s been overshadowed by larger deals such as the BEA purchase, most seem to think this is a strategic and well thought-out acquisition.  What do you think? Does this have the ability to put Oracle as a frontrunner in the insurance market?