Oracle Open World Recap – General Impressions

I just returned from Oracle Open World (“OOW”) 2010 and it was a tremendous show.  In fact, it was so outstanding that I had to break my analysis into four parts: my two part general overview of the conference, a preview of Oracle’s most recent product announcements, and a preview of Oracle’s latest addition to the Exadata product line. This year’s version of Open World was extremely well organized and attended. The events are always top notch and they do a very nice job with logistics moving people around the city and in/out of the Moscone Center (which is one of the better convention centers I’ve attended.). The weather was very accommodating (mid 70’s light breeze) with no rain. The planning committee should take this into consideration given that last year’s convention in October experienced tumultuous rain storms and impaired an otherwise great convention.  The weather in September has been consistently better over the years than in October and hopefully OOW will be solidly entrenched in September going forward. The conference officially kicked off on Sunday, September 19^th with the Oracle Partner Network (“OPN”) leading the way.  The OPN events started in Moscone South with the Oracle PartnerNetwork Forum and lasted from 9:00-5:00pm. This all day event is where Oracle partners learn about “plans and strategy directly from Oracle executives; network; and gain valuable insights, contracts, and resources geared toward helping them build their business with Oracle. From morning special interests group meetings through the evening awards ceremony, this is a must attend event for partners.” This year’s event was particularly special given that DLT received an honorable mention Titan Award for Regional Applications Momentum for recognition as one of the top applications resellers/partners in the Mid-Atlantic Region. For non partners the Oracle Users Forum was open to all registered attendees, and offered an opportunity to network, learn, and explore like interests and technology concerns.  After participating in the Users Forum, attendees could attend the official Oracle Welcome Keynote from Larry Ellison, Steve Miranda, and Ann Livermore from HP, in the Moscone North conference center for the official launch of Oracle Fusion Applications. After the keynote most participants attended the traditional Oracle Welcome Reception at the Howard Street Tent and Yerba Buena Gardens. This year’s theme was Oktoberfest sponsored by Fujitsu. As well as all of the OPN events on Sunday, OOW also featured MySQL Sunday.  MySQL Sunday allowed users to choose from “fast-paced sessions led by MySQL engineers and community leaders covering the latest MySQL technical innovations and community developments.” These sessions were open to all OOW attendees on Sunday with additional sessions throughout the week for those attendees who arrived later in the week. In addition to MySQL Sunday, various Oracle User Groups also came together on Sunday to participate in OOW “by providing user-driven content and convening special interest group (SIG) meetings.” In addition to the normal User Group sessions, this year’s OOW included the Java user group (JUG) community for JavaOne and Oracle Develop.  The user forum kicked off on Sunday with a half-day of SIG meetings and continued throughout the conference with sessions and “networking opportunities throughout the conference. “ New to this year’s conference was the community area in the “Mason Street Tent, where you [could] meet with members of [Oracle’s] developer community, including members of Java user groups. “ The User Group Pavilions also opened on Sunday where you could meet “representatives from technology, applications, and industry user groups at the User Group Pavilion to share information on best practices and the value of user group membership.” (For those interested in getting involved with any of these user groups or special interest groups, please visit oracle.com/technology/community/user_groups.) It has to be stated that the Special Networking sessions were exceptional this year. It all started after Sunday’s opening keynote session with an authentic Oktoberfest celebration which allowed attendees to “raise a stein of the finest German ale with fellow Oracle customers, partners, developers, and technology enthusiasts from around the globe.”The welcome reception was located in its traditional location in the Howard Street Tent and “Yerba Buena Oktoberfest Beer Gardens.” What made this welcome reception really stand out, however, wasn’t the Oktoberfest theme but the addition of the BMW Oracle Racing team.  “Surrounded by cool models of the super-high tech racing vessel that recently won the 33^rd America’s Cup, [attendees had] the opportunity to meet members of the winning team, participate in a Q&A session, and see the 162-year old original America’s Cup trophy.” The scene on Monday switched to multiple partner/vendor and customer appreciation events spread out all over the city. The festivities started at the Marriott Marquis’s View Lounge with a breathtaking view of the Bay, and downtown San Francisco to the North, and the Mountains to the South. The party then drifted across the street to Annabelle’s, then to the Hotel Palomar, and then back to the de facto host hotel the Marriott Marquis, or other late night venues where Open World savants go to converse over a tasty beverage. (This is post 1 of 4. Check back soon for a complete recap.)