As a native Detroiter I love seeing good news about the Motor City. Detroit has taken its fair share of knocks lately, but Dan Gilbert’s decision to move Quicken Loans downtown has infused some hope into those who love the...

In this article we take a more indepth look at ROIs that can be achieved by mobilizing and automating field services. We start out by reviewing some of the ROI points we discussed in an earlier article and then adding to the list.

Oracle Pedigree and Serialization Manager (OPSM) has been featured in a number articles in leading pharmaceutical, manufacturing and technology trade publications since this exciting solution was announced Monday, July 26^th.  Managing Automation's Jeff Moad wrote a feature on the news based on a pre-briefing with Oracle's Jon Chorley and John Danese. Moad highlighted the new product features and different ways pharmaceutical manufacturers can deploy and integrate the solution with their existing ERP software.

 

Additionally, FiercePharmaManufacturing.com, InternetNews.com, In-Pharma Technologist and other leading publications submitted articles based on the press release. Coverage highlighted the importance of Oracle Pedigree and Serialization Manager for pharmaceutical manufacturers, as state and federal regulators have recently started proposing and passing ePedigree legislation.

YGTBHA: You're Going to Be Here Anyway. You want to see and learn about the newest products and meet experts and business leaders. You want to save money and get a big discount for registering early. You only have one more day before the extended early bird deadline runs out on July 30. It's only logical. Do it. Last chance for the early bird discount. Really. Register Now!

YGTBHA: You're Going to Be Here Anyway. You want to see and learn about the newest products and meet experts and business leaders. You want to save money and get a big discount for registering early. You only have one more day before the extended early bird deadline runs out on July 30. It's only logical. Do it. Last chance for the early bird discount. Really. Register Now!

Over the past several months we have been talking with customers one-on-one about the SkyMiles program and other elite benefits in an effort to learn more about how we can improve our program. During our listening, five top themes emerged.  We’re excited to share with you some of the important changes we’ve made based directly [...]

Just choked on my tea and spew it halfway to my display while reading this:



Okay, i won't call TPM by his other name, as he didn't called me SunHead or so ...

Oracle  Directory Server Enterprise Edition 11gR1 just released!

Like Sun Directory Server Enterprise Edition 7.0, ODSEE 11g Release 1 allows companies to grow faster and easier. The significant improvement in performance overs previous releases allows companies to accelerate their applications while reducing their total cost of ownership. Companies can also reduce cost by improving serviceability with faster import times and smooth, in-place upgrade that reuses your existing data store. This complete solution provides a directory server, proxy server (for high availability and distribution of data and load) , web console and synchronization with Active Directory, all under one product (ODSEE) and licensed as part of Oracle Directory Services Plus.

ODSEE 11gR1 is a rebranded release of Sun Directory Server Enterprise Edition 7.0 and is equivalent to a patch release. It does not include new functionality but provides additional stability and security with the inclusion of many fixes that where previously released as patches and hot fixes.

This release also aligns the list of supported platforms with most other Oracle Fusion Middleware products. For details of the changes to supported platforms, see Platform Support, System Virtualization Support, and Operating System Requirements.

As part of the integration with other Oracle Fusion Middleware components:

• You can configure an Oracle Virtual Directory LDAP adaptor to work with ODSEE 11gR1. For more information, see “LDAP Adapter Templates” in the Administrator's Guide for Oracle Virtual Directory.
• ODSEE 11g Release 1 can also be synchronized with other directory servers by using the Oracle Directory Integration Platform. For more information see “Configuring Directory Synchronization” in the Administrator's Guide for Oracle Directory Integration Platform.

This updated release improves the overall quality and robustness of deployments. Among other features and capabilities , by upgrading from DSEE 5.2 or 6.x you might benefit from:

ODSEE Product Management

• Kritik an Wikileaks: Daniel Ellsbergs Pentagon-Papiere waren besser - Afghanistan - Politik - FAZ.NET
  (tags: wikileaks)
• Depublizieren: Die Leere hinter dem Link - Medien - Feuilleton - FAZ.NET
  (tags: internet journalismus onlinejournalismus ard)
• Boulevard-Medien zur Loveparade: Die wirklich wichtigen Fragen - taz.de
  (tags: taz loveparade)

Former U.S.D.A. employee Shirley Sherrod announced today at a National Association of Black Journalists event that she will be suing conservative blogger Andrew Breitbart. As you may recall, it was Breitbart’s posting of a video showing Sherrod seemingly regaling the audience at an N.A.A.C.P. event with racism-endorsing anecdotes that prompted her firing on July 19. Only after the complete speech surfaced, and the Department of Agriculture (and everyone else) realized Sherrod was actually condemning racism, was she offered both an apology and her job back. But Breitbart, unlike Secretary of Agriculture Tom Vilsack, has not tried to make amends.

Alvin Greene, South Carolina’s enigmatic Democratic candidate for U.S. Senate, will be the subject of a new documentary. The film is the project of producer Leslie Beaumont and writer David Garrett, neither of whom has experience with campaign documentaries, according to Yahoo’s Michael Calderone. “We’re really fascinated with the story of this ordinary private citizen living in obscurity and then thrown in the limelight,” Beaumont said. Note that “thrown in the limelight” is not a phrase often used to describe Senate hopefuls, who, at least theoretically, pursue elected office because they themselves chose to do so of their own initiative.

The Pakistani newspaper Dawn criticized the government for what it described as a chaotic emergency response to a plane crash outside the capital, Islamabad, that killed 152 people on Wednesday.

From Richard Branson:

There is no better way to learn how to succeed in business than to learn from mistakes -- yours or someone else's. I often come across case studies looking into how and why certain companies smashed records, busted budgets and succeeded beyond all imagination. Those studies have their uses, of course, but it's the stories of businesses that didn't turn out so well th

 

By Maha Muzumdar - published in APICS Extra, July 2010 edition

 

The past several years have been marked by increasing economic volatility, as reflected by not only the global economic recession, but also the instability of customer demand and rapid movement in raw material, fuel, and commodity prices. Supply chain executives are under pressure to develop more efficient, customer-centric supply chains and find innovative ways to reduce costs. Meanwhile, they are being asked to take advantage of business opportunities that may arise from the current economic conditions.

As a result, company leaders are prioritizing projects that reduce inventory and logistics expense. Although this may help matters in the short term, professionals risk ignoring the long term. Organizations must prepare for the rebound while responding to the conditions of the new normal--a reduced labor pool, stagflation and deflation, and issues surrounding energy and sustainability. Effective strategies coupled with a well-defined plan and the right tools will help alleviate pressure today and ready managers for market changes in the future.

 

Strategy 1: Adopt demand-driven planning based on real-time demand insights and demand shaping. The right prediction and contingency planning tools will ensure a complete view and an effective response to risks such as suppliers going out of business, political upheaval, and natural calamities affecting manufacturing. Companies then can adjust pricing and promotions strategies to shape demand, move additional product quickly, drive revenue growth, or further expand margins for a high-demand product with limited market supply. The key is to have the foresight to leverage opportunities and mitigate challenging events so that your business not only survives, but succeeds.

 

Strategy 2: Build an adaptive supply chain with rapid planning and integrated execution. Once executives are able to better predict demand and risk, they need to adapt their supply chains to changing market opportunities and events. Companies must put in place dynamic planning and continually fine-tune operations. The old model was to wait until the end of the month or quarter to shift production and supply based on shipments and sales. The new model calls for more continuous, dynamic supply chain adjustments to rapidly respond to market changes. This can minimize or even eliminate shocks across the supply network. The results include better visibility; enhanced collaboration across the value chain, including sourcing and supply, manufacturing, transportation, warehousing, and distribution; and accelerated decision-making with better analytics and support.

 

Strategy 3: Optimize product designs for supply, manufacturing, and sustainability in order to accelerate profitable innovation. Innovation is crucial to being one step ahead of the competition. But innovation doesn't exist in a vacuum. In order to be successful, products must be manufactured at the right cost. Decisions made in the early cycles of product development can make or break the product. Designs must be optimized for supply and manufacturability, and all the true costs must be accurately captured. In addition, product innovation and competitive advantage increasingly stem from the selection of suppliers and technologies. If a company can manage the information, people, processes, and decisions regarding a product throughout its life cycle, it can achieve strong dividends and market leadership.

 

Strategy 4: Align your supply chain with business goals by connecting sales and operations planning (S&OP) with corporate business planning. Although S&OP processes provide coordination among sales, manufacturing, and distribution, there still are disconnects and gaps among finance, strategy, and operations in many companies. One way to bridge these gaps is with integrated business planning. This process integrates financial strategic budgeting and forecasting systems with operations planning. The resulting marriage of processes ensures revenue goals and budgets developed in finance are validated against a detailed, bottoms-up operating plan. Concurrently, the strategy reconciles the operating plan against financial goals. Integrated business planning, which connects S&OP processes with corporate business planning, enables companies to achieve the right balance of supply and demand, aligned with strategic business goals. It provides real-time visibility to all the key dimensions for success--demand, supply, product, risk, and performance--across the organization and throughout the extended supply chain.

 

Strategy 5: Embed sustainability into supply chain operations. The triple bottom line of people, profit, and planet has never been more important than it is today. Studies show that companies striving for social and environmental sustainability achieve major competitive advantages, especially with regard to production efficiency, supplier management skills, and attractiveness to employees. Substantial opportunities exist for sustainability in supply chain operations:

• Company leaders first need to include sustainability as a core component of their supply chain strategy. This means incorporating it as a key requirement across all supply chain processes.
• Second, professionals initially should focus on the basics to achieve quick wins through real-time visibility to energy and resource consumption and resource or material movement. This enables reduction of carbon inefficiencies, minimized energy consumption, less waste with "recycle-reuse-refurbish" materials, and optimized travel and transportation.
• Businesses can keep the momentum by ensuring continuous improvement through systemic measurement, audit, and knowledge management. Compliance audits, best practices, and benchmarks provide a governing framework for sustainable supply chain operations and ensure clarity around the environmental impact of specific actions.

The right processes, practices, and tools can help
The demands on supply chain managers to rapidly respond to change and increase profitability are greater than ever. The good news is that effective strategies and solutions exist that support each one of the previous five strategies, and they can deliver immediate return on investment. The way in which companies implement these strategies can mean the difference between success and failure.

Maha Muzumdar is vice president, supply chain marketing at Oracle, where he helps formulate, define, and drive the market strategy for Oracle's supply chain applications.

Crystal Reports for Visual Studio 2010 beta 2, and 32-bit and 64-bit runtime engines are now available.

Great news today, the design time environments of those stalwarts of the Oracle Tools world, Oracle Forms and Oracle Reports are now certified on Windows 7 64bit. You can now run the 32bit builders of the 11g versions on Windows 7 64bit and be supported!
As ever, for the latest platform certification information go to the middleware pages on OTN. This new certification should be reflected in the spreadsheet in the next day or so.

The telecommunications industry is characterized by new technologies, new services and huge capital investments to make content accessible by any device, anywhere. Market players frequently develop new products, services and tariffs to increase their market share in this fiercely competitive industry. With these developments comes the realization that market players have to make their systems more effective, flexible and scalable to efficiently manage an increasingly complex product portfolio. This is a multi-dimensional problem that requires optimized processes, accurate operational data and integrated solutions.

The first critical business area to be addressed to achieve this goal is order management. This encompasses several critical touch points of direct customer experience with the organization; its proper functioning is strategic in nature.

Telecommunications Industry Overview

Industry Characteristics • High capital investment and innovation cost • High customer churn rate • Economies of scale between original equipment manufacturers and contract manufacturers • Complex supply chain from contract manufacturer to end consumer • Skilled human capital requirement • Global nature of products for plug and play

The telecommunications industry provides data, voice services, graphics, television and video at increasing speeds and through diverse channels. While land line telephonic communication is still the core service mode, wireless communication, Internet, cable and satellite program distribution are increasing their share in overall industry earnings. The industry is experiencing rapid deregulation and technology disruption in service offerings. In many markets across the globe, governments are revoking monopolistic policies and older players face a new breed of competitors.

The market of this industry includes residential customers, small businesses and big corporate customers. In residential customers market competitors rely heavily on price to increase their customer base. Success depends on branding, reputation and investment in agile order management and billing solutions. The corporate market has different characteristics; corporate customers are ready to pay premium for the quality and reliability of their voice services and data delivery. They are less price-sensitive when special services like virtual private network, data security and video-conferencing comes into picture.

Industry Trends • Globalization of services – global operations in localized environments • Bundling of services • Frequent new product, services and tariff introductions • Shortening of product lifecycles

Telecom operators also provide network connectivity services to other companies that need it. The players with far-reaching networks lend circuits to heavy network users like large corporations and Internet services providers.

Figure 1: Telecommunications’ Industry Structural Analysis

Order Management – An end-to-end Perspective

An integrated order management spectrum typically comprises the following:

• Product information management (descriptions, attributes and locations)
• Vendors (purchasing and receiving)
• Marketing (catalogs, promotions and pricing)
• Customers and prospects
• Order entry and customer service (including returns and refunds)
• Financial processing (credit cards, billing and payment on account)
• Order processing (selection, printing, picking, packing and shipping)
• Data analysis and reporting
• Financial information (general ledger, accounts payable and receivable)

Figure 2: Order Management Lifecycle

The order management process in the telecom industry is comprised of a number of sub-processes. The best available documentation of these processes is provided in an enhanced telecom operations map (eTOM). Processes related to order management are well dispersed in the eTOM framework, but fulfillment under operations covers almost ninety percent of order management processes. Table 1 is an overview of critical order management processes mapping with respect to the eTOM framework.

Table 1: Order Management Processes and eTOM Framework
	Customer Relationship Management	Service Management and Operations	Resource Management and Operations	Supplier/Partner (S/P) Relationship Management
Fulfillment	Customer interface management • Manage contact • Manage request Selling • Manage prospect • Qualify and educate       customer • Negotiate sales • Acquire customer data • Cross-/up-selling Order handling • Determine customer order feasibility • Authorize credit • Track and manage customer order handling • Complete order • Report customer order handling	Service configuration and activation • Design solution • Allocate specific service parameters to services • Track and manage service provisioning • Implement, configure and activate service • Test service end-to-end • Issue service orders • Report service provisioning • Close service order	Resource provisioning • Allocate and install resource • Configure and activate resource • Test resource • Track and manage resource provisioning • Report resource provisioning • Close resource order • Issue resource orders • Recover resource	S/P requisition management • Select S/P • Determine S/P pre-requisition feasibility • Track and manage S/P requisition • Receive and accept S/P requisition • Initiate S/P requisition order • Report S/P requisition • Close S/P requisition order

An implemented process reference model like eTOM has the following advantages:

• Standard descriptions of management processes
• A framework of relationships among the standard processes
• Standard metrics to measure process performance
• Management practices that produce best-in-class performance
• Standard alignment to features and functionality

Standard process framework implementation, however, does not guarantee a competitive edge. A process that is standard today may become obsolete in time because of a new product launch, new technology introduction or simply by entry of a new competitor in the market. That is why the telecommunications industry faces new challenges with respect to its processes, such as highly flexible, scalable and continuously improving processes with less implementation time. Processes with these characteristics can only align with highly volatile business environments of telecom domains. That is the reason implementation of standard frameworks is recommended but not considered enough for this industry.

Order Management Challenges in Telecommunications Industry

According to the Gartner Group, about 2 to 5 percent of all services delivered by the world's largest telecom providers are not billed because of inefficient or misaligned processes. Despite significant investments in new and upgraded solutions, order-to-cash processes remain inefficient. Some of the major challenges faced in order management can be classified as seen in Figure 3.

Figure 3: Order Management Challenges

Due to the aforementioned challenges, the telecom industry is facing the following challenges in its day-to-day operations:

• Labor intensive offline order conflict resolutions
• Process delays and inaccuracies
• Customer dissatisfaction
• Billions of dollars in lost revenue and operational costs
• Penalties for being out of compliance or unmet service level agreements
• Problems in accelerated roll out of new products/services
• Spending on efficient order management solutions is exceeding billions of dollars per year

The leading trends in telecom are impacting how market players manage their customer-facing processes – like order management solutions. Some of the key change drivers are described in Table 2.

Table 2: Telecommunications Industry Trends’ Impacts on Order Management Solutions
Trends	Description	Impact on Order Management
Increased focus on self-service	All market players face a constant battle to reduce costs in their customer care centers. Previously, providers had set their sights on electronic bill generation and payment as a way to reduce mailing costs and decrease sales outstanding. Now, providers are placing their bets on self-care. Self-care ultimately also goes back to the idea of customer satisfaction.	Requirement of real time, user friendly and comprehensive solutions
Increased focus on customer satisfaction	The telecom industry is shifting from the market share acquisition to customer satisfaction focused strategy. Operators are focused on how to differentiate, target their market segment and find better ways to understand their customers. The goal is to become the sole provider of all services to an individual customer as a way to drive up customer loyalty and combat churn.	Effective bundling of products and services during sales cycle, quote to order and finally order to cash. This may require collaboration with external service providers.
Focus on next-generation mobile services	Next-generation mobile services will lead the pack on innovative offerings, but this innovation will be useless if operators cannot adequately provision and bill for these services. Market players will look toward content and data to increase average revenue per user and in doing so they will offer new services whose pricing models are untested. Traditional order management solutions will probably not be able to facilitate the new pricing structures as well as the partner management and revenue settlements required for these services, so providers will seek more flexible solutions to manage content services.	Flexible order management solutions
Push on pre-payment for offerings	Supporting a real-time billing infrastructure is becoming more critical for giving service providers better control over service usage and accounting. Offering higher value services such as content increases the financial stakes. Thus, prepay becomes more about financial management and less about servicing the low-value, high-risk or credit challenged customer.	Scalable solution with alternative functionalities

Key Solution Requirements

A robust order management solution needs to provide following functionalities:

• Automation capability: The solution has to accept multiple orders from multiple channels (Web, email, direct interface) in multiple formats (electronic data interchange, Web forms, etc.), handling them without human intervention. It then normalizes all orders and places them into a common repository.
• Speeding new product/service roll out: It must be scalable enough to add new product and service offerings in the existing environment, without consuming additional resources.
• Create cross-sell, up-sell opportunities: The solution should be capable of identifying other sales opportunities for the customer by applying various market intelligence techniques like affinity analysis, environment scanning, etc.
• Change management: Unlike traditional monolithic enterprise applications that require extensive programming to implement small enhancements, the solution should offer flexibility and speed to make changes in existing services, tariffs, etc.
• Workflow-based solution implementing complex business rules: The solution must apply business rules to the orders in a common repository and determine which ones can be processed immediately on a straight-through basis, according to particular rules. Any order that does not meet these criteria – whether it requires disaggregation, contains a wrong part number or any of a multitude of reasons – must be processed (and errors handled) on an automated basis. This level of automation also provides full visibility into an order from the moment it comes in until it has been fulfilled, allowing status to be checked at any time. In turn, order visibility also provides supply chain visibility and enables supply chain synchronization.
• Enabling straight-through processing: The solution must have the intelligence to determine when orders achieve straight-through status – upon their receipt or after exception issues have been addressed, thereby graduating an exception order to straight-through status.

Figure 4: Order Management Solution

Addressing Challenges Through Business Process Management

Leveraging his experience of working across industries and after a detailed study of order management processes the author has developed a maturity model for order management solutions in telecom. Organizations in telecommunications are currently operating on five different maturity levels, as shown in Figure 5.

Figure 5: Order Management Solution – Maturity Model

It is recommended for market players to improve maturity levels of their processes and achieve competitive edge in this highly service sensitive market. Figure 5 is a specifically derived comprehensive process improvement framework for telecom. This framework leverages the world’s best quality and process improvement methodologies (Lean, Six Sigma, etc.) and establishes their compatibility with standard driven implementation methodologies like Business Process Management (BPM) and Service Oriented Architecture (SOA).

Figure 6: Roadmap to "The Perfect Order"

Summary

The model (Figure 6) explains a framework for addressing order management challenges in telecom domain. First, processes are analyzed using process improvement methodologies and standard frameworks. Existing processes are then improved, fine-tuned and benchmarked using design of experiment and simulation techniques. After optimizing business processes, they are implemented with the help of best-of-breed process implementation methodologies. This provides an order management solution, which is specifically tailored per client requirements and is open to an accelerated roll out of new products and services.

Back in January, we had a great response to a couple of blogs pointing to our new “Design Highlights” interactive sites on newairplane.com - for the 787 Dreamliner, and the 747-8. We’ve just launched a similar feature focused on the...

From Erica Swallow, Mashable:

The debate continues on whether CEOs should be fluent in social media or not, but the n

Recently, I came across such a story here at SAP, where our IT group is facilitating integration of some recently acquired companies. The team has leveraged our own technologies, SAP NetWeaver BPM and SAP BusinessObjects Data Services, to create a data cleansing, migration, and governance process. This had the effect of transforming an IT centric process into an evolving best practice that engages IT data analysts and LOB managers in accepting new customer data as they are migrated into SAP’s systems. Listen to my latest podcast as I interview Octavian Wagner of SAP IT’s Merger and Acquisition Business Process and Application Migration team as he describes the solution they built.

Today’s photo comes from sjb4photos. Be sure to look at all of sjb4photos’ photos and our other albums. And if you would like to recommend your favorite photo with a GM car or truck in it, put it up on Flickr and tag it with “gmfyi.”

From Antonina Jedrzejczak, Business Insider:

Traveling for business can be exhausting, especially if you have to fly internationally over just a few days, or go straight to work when you arrive.

 

Still, there are helpful things you can do before, during, and after your flight to make the travel and the transition much easier.

EXPERIENCE:  After completing my MSc.  in Production Management, I started my career with Reckitt Benckiser Poland in April 2004 as a Production Supervisor. On this position, I managed production operations, reduced COGS and identified and implemented cost reduction projects. After a very successful journey on this position, RB decided to move me to RB Russia in [...]

I had an important meeting this afternoon. I signed a contract, the ink is dry and now i will leaving Hamburg in three month or so.
Continue reading "Now it's official ...."

Oracle Virtualization Technologies and the SAP NetWeaver Adaptive Computing Controller

 http://www.sun.com/third-party/global/sap/collateral/SAPACC_Oracle_Virt_WP_Apr2010.pdf

http://wikis.sun.com/x/mZUJD

 by Sherry Yu, Chad Prucha, and Yumiko Hata
April 2010

Oracle’s CoolThreads servers and open storage technologies, together with the Oracle Solaris operating system, provide an ideal platform to run the SAP BusinessObjects Enterprise XI software suite and deliver a rapidly-deployable, fast, cost-effective, and stable business intelligence (BI) solution. This white paper describes a sizing study that illustrates the functional capabilities, deployment flexibility, and performance capacity of the SAP BusinessObjects Enterprise XI software suite installed on CoolThreads technology-based servers and Oracle storage systems.

This white paper is targeted at technical IT managers and system architects who are responsible for implementing, managing, or recommending SAP BusinessObjects solutions.

SunSolve was, and still is, Sun's way of distributing patches; the equivalent mechanism at Oracle is My Oracle Support (MOS), and Gerry just announced thatSun patches now available there. This includes the GlassFish commercial patches like 128640-20, which is one of the patches in GlassFish 2.1.1 patch 6. I just looked directly for the patch ID (using Sun's patch number), I'll try to dig more info on how to use MOS and will post it later on.

Out of the box, VNCServer is not 100% ready-to-run.  The free version of VNCServer and it's related components are installed in /usr/bin, however, it is necessary to make 2 additional directories available in your $PATH:

• add /usr/X11/bin and /usr/openwin/bin to your path

The other change to make if you what the standard gnome desktop to be displayed can be be achieved two ways:

1. modify the xstartup file located in the users .vnc directory
2. modify the /usr/bin/vncserver startup script directly (root permission required)
   

The first method alters the individual user's vncserver environment, while the second method makes the change available to all user vncserver configurations.

 Note: Method #2 needs to be performed before an individual user runs "vncserver" for the first time.  This is when the $USER_HOME/.vnc/xstartup file is created.

 Method #1:

Modify the existing $USER_HOME/.vnc/xstartup file to look like this:

---

!#/usr/sh

gnome-session &

---

Now when the user starts "vncserver", the gnome desktop will be used. If vncserver is already running, the session will need to be killed and restarted.

Method #2:

This procedure modifies the /usr/bin/vncserver script so that it creates the desired $USER_HOME/.vnc/xstartup file the first time through.

Changed the following section:

--

$defaultXStartup
    = ("#!/bin/sh\n\n".
       "[ -r \$HOME/.Xresources ] && xrdb \$HOME/.Xresources\n".
       "xsetroot -solid grey\n".
       "vncconfig -iconic &\n".
       "xterm -geometry 80x24+10+10 -ls -title \"\$VNCDESKTOP Desktop\" &\n".
       "twm &\n");

to look like

$defaultXStartup
    = ("#!/bin/sh\n\n".
       "gnome-session &\n");

--

Now, when the /usr/bin/vncserver is run the first time, the $USER_HOME/.vnc/xstartup file is created to use the gnome desktop

Almost as soon as oil spilled into a creek in Michigan this week, local residents began documenting the disaster on YouTube.

For validating data in SEM BPS data loads are performed into BW objects. This can be avoided by doing the validation directly from SAP ERP throuh RFC Function Modules.

iPhones and iPads are everywhere. Now also on the SDN. Join our new iPhone & iPad community and help us build up a treasure trove of knowledge for iPhone/iPad @ SAP.

The Toyota Tacoma, the best-selling compact pickup truck in America, offers two new accessory packages for 2011 based on a concept truck first shown at the 2009 Specialty Equipment Marketing Association (SEMA) Show. The T|X and T|X Pro packages, available in conjunction with the Off-Road Package, add Toyota Racing Development (TRD) accessories in a unique combination at a special value price.

Oracle just announced:

• Oracle today announced Dell and HP will certify and resell Oracle Solaris, Oracle Enterprise Linux and Oracle VM on their respective x86 platforms.
• Customers will have full access to Oracle’s Premier Support for Oracle Solaris, Oracle Enterprise Linux and Oracle VM running on Dell and HP servers. This will enable fast and accurate issue resolution and reduced risk in a company’s operating environment

In this blog SDN Mentor Ingo Hilgefort describes how you can use a flat list of a characteristic in Web Intelligence but still filter the data using a hierarchy node variable.

“Impossible mais possible après tout.” (Impossible but possible after all.) “I’ve been looking at that wall for twelve years, but I’ve never found any team good enough” –Bob Shepton winner of the 2009 Tilman Medal. Editor's note: When last we...

By implementing Oracle's Agile PLM solutions, Juniper Networks was able to streamline the product development process through better visibility, accountability, and enhanced collaboration with suppliers and contractors.

For the full details, click here.

• Ron Batra's blog: Cloud Platforms - Part I
  Oracle ACE Director Ron Batra reflects on changes in the IT space, and advises that a trip down memory lane can provide context for the discussion of Cloud Computing.
  (tags: oracle oracleace otn cloud)
• Blog Interview with a WebCenter Customer: Texas A&M (Oracle Enterprise 2.0 Blog)
  Kellsey Ruppel interviews Sreeja Sreekumaran, the technical lead of Epik-Maestro, an integrated enterprise application developed by Texas Engineering Experiment Station (TEES) Information Systems. 
  (tags: oracle otn webcenter enterprise2.0)
• Andrejus Baranovskis's Blog: Oracle BPM 11g Integration with ADF and WebCenter Suite - Quick Overview
  Realy good news for BPM people, according to Oracle ACE Director Andrejus Baranovskis: "Now we can create rich SOA type applications. It's  possible to bring standard ADF Task Flows and Oracle BPM based ADF Task Flows together into WebCenter Spaces 11g Process Space."
  (tags: oracle oracleace bpm webcenter)
• Event: Building Cloud Application Businesses (Kevin O’Brien Blog)
  Kevin O'Brien shares the details on his webcast conversation with David Novak, Executive Vice President of Sales & Business Development from SPS Commerce. 
  (tags: oracle otn cloud webcast)
• We All Are One (Oracle Technology Network Blog (aka TechBlog))
  "On July 27, we completed the migration of all non-obsolete content from developers.sun.com, java.sun.com, and BigAdmin to a completely re-architected, re-designed Oracle Technology Network site," says OTN's Justin Kestelyn. "This site - which offers different entry points for Java Developers, Database Admins and Developers, System Admins and Developers, and Architects - reflects the full diversity of this huge technical end-user community."
  (tags: oracle sun otn community developers java architects sysadmin dba)

See the OTN Garage Blog

- Rick

We're always grateful for support from celebrities such as Billy Bob Thornton. Check out the PSA below, in which he recounts the flash flood in Arkansas a couple months ago that caused 20 fatalities.

Always read something that will make you look good if you die in the middle of it. -P.J. O’Rourke

Trust me: if you pick up a copy of Inder Sidhu’s (@indersidhu) New York Times best-seller, Doing Both, you will look good…really good…while reading it. But don’t take my word for it, check this interview with the man himself.

Toyota denies any reports of the discontinuation of the Sequoia. For obvious competitive reasons, Toyota does not discuss future product plans. Sequoia continues to be a profitable, high-quality vehicle for Toyota and several years remain in the life of the current generation. Our focus remains on building our vehicles, including the Sequoia, with the highest possible quality.

This has been a big question for fans of Solaris on non-Sun hardware, but it's finally been answered.

Oracle Solaris will be certified and resold by Dell and HP on their x86-based hardware.

So will Oracle Enterprise Linux and Oracle VM.

Oracle Premier support is avialable for all three OS's.

A few quick resources:

• Press Release dated July 29, 2010
• BigAdmin Hardware Compatibility List (HCL), which will be updated soon with latest info.
• Solaris Product Page of OTN (migrated from SDN)
• Solaris HowTo (migrated from BigAdmin)

More info later....

- Rick

The most comprehensive trade show for prepress, printing, finishing, converting, mailing, wide format and digital technologies in the Americas in 2010.

Ever wanted to meet the Oracle UPK and Tutor experts? Ask questions about deployment or give ideas about future product enhancements? Meet other customers using UPK and Tutor? Here is your chance!

Oracle Open World in San Francisco is 2 months away (September 19 -23) and the Insync 2010 conference in Melbourne, Australia is just around the corner (August 16-17). We have sessions, meetings, and special interest group meetings planned for both events.

These conferences present a great opportunity to meet members of the product teams, catch up on the features of the current releases, hear about the roadmap for upcoming releases, and network with other users.

Insync 2010: Melbourne, Australia
I'll give a brief agenda of the UPK topics for InSync so hopefully some of our friends downunder will decide to join us at the event! Meanwhile click this link for a full agenda: Insync 2010

Monday, August 15th
• 9am - Keynote Presentation
Cliff Godwin, Senior Vice President of Applications Development, Oracle Corporation
(this isn't specifically UPK, but Cliff is a great speaker and I think you will find his keynote very interesting)
• 2:30 pm
UPK: Providing Value Through the Software Lifecycle
• 3:30 pm
Centralize Project Team Assets and Deploy Fully Measurable Training with UPK PRO

Tuesday, August 16th
• 9am - UPK SIG Meeting
• 10am - UPK Strategy and Roadmap

Oracle Open World: San Francisco, California, USA
This is a great even to learn from Oracle experts and connect with your peers. Plus there is still time to save on registration! Save up to US$900. (Enter code ORF during registration.) There will be multiple UPK and Tutor Sessions, SIG meeting, and UPK Hands on Labs, as well as plenty of opportunities to work with product experts in the Oracle Demo Grounds.

To register or view the full schedule of events: Oracle Open World 2010

We hope to see you at one of these upcoming events!

Beth Renstrom
Sr. Manager, Outbound Product Management
Oracle

Full. Lateral. Support.

No big has feet like Pau Gasol. In fact, few players - of any size - posses the bearded Spaniard’s time-honed technique.

The reason is simple: championship pivot-points are often decided by the slimmest of margins. Think: Pau’s outstretched fingertips - the momentum-changing inches at the forefront of a Lakers’ dynasty.

The defending FIBA World Champions’ MVP. The two-time-defending NBA Champions’ centerpiece.

All of it starts with his feet.

When titles are on the line, his all-world game is proven.

Just like the technology behind the Pau Gasol WBF PE Hyperdunk 2010.

James Badge Dale’s Will Travers is one serious brooder. Something tells me I’m not smart enough to watch Rubicon. The first time I heard of the show was when a friend asked, “Hey, Mike, what do you think about Rubicon?” Without pausing to think, I replied, “I thought she was fine on Benson, why?” Oops. I was thinking of Didi Conn, the actress who played Frenchie in Grease. Rubicon, the title of AMC’s new Sunday-night espionage drama, is a reference to the river that Julius Caesar crossed in 49 B.C. in an act of defiance that sparked a bloody civil war and ultimately led to the Roman Empire. To “cross the Rubicon” means to pass the point of no return. And in case you’re wondering, yes, I had to look some of that up.

Photo by Remi Jouan.In November of last year, Carla Bruni announced that she had agreed to appear in Woody Allen’s then-unnamed new film. “Perhaps I will be very bad,” she mused. Maybe—we will soon find out. Yesterday, photographers snapped pictures of Bruni filming said project, which has since been christened Midnight in Paris. It’s a romantic comedy that co-stars Owen Wilson, Kathy Bates, Rachel McAdams, and Marion Cotillard. (No word yet on which character will be playing the role of Allen’s id, although we bet that it’s neither Bruni nor Bates.)

Well its just after midnight on 30 July, 2010, and Australia has launched the Apple iPhone 4. What’s the big deal? Its been out in the US for almost two months now – why get so excited?

From Thursday Bram, Wise Bread:

Most of the time, when a business owner is thinking about references, it's a question of how much to discuss about a former employee. But there are occasions when a business will be asked to provide references of some sort. Such situations usually fall into one of two categories. 

Author Michael Lewis. Well its 11.30pm on Thursday night - a cold Melbourne evening, and the crowd is anxiously awaiting the clock to strke 12. No its not the start of the annual Boxing Day Sales. Its the eagerly awaited release of the latest phenomenon from the folks at Apple - the iPhone 4 IS ALMOST HERE.