More on the Merger

I've had a chance to ponder as well as listen to other folks talk. Here are some of the best ideas of mine and theirs.

1. In the short term, nothing will happen.
We always forget this, and then reality sinks in. Nothing significant is going to happen in the next 4 to 6 months in the product lines. People will be getting over the shock in the marketplace and in the organizations. Associated companies will be getting their bearings and the very few people who knew about this blockbuster of a deal will surprise us again. From what I hear, this secret was kept very well. Although it has been rumored for years (and I wish I could find some of my old comments and speculations on those rumors) it blew everybody away.

2. Current Hyperion customers might upgrade, just to be on the safe side.
If you're sitting on an older version of Hyperion software, chances are you'll upgrade just to buy yourself time. This means busy work for the consulting sector. It's easy if you're already in System 9 of Hyperion, and easy if you're pure Essbase. But if you have a mix of Hyperion products moving all of them up will take a little doing. Still this is the only downside hedging I would expect current Hyperion customers to do.

3. Brio guys aren't breathing hard.
Somebody needs to really sit me down and explain what it is that Business Objects has that Brio doesn't. Whatever BO might have, or Oracle Discoverer might have the Brio folks aren't sweating it. The Brio customers were loyal in their transition to Hyperion and they weren't disappointed. Oracle rebranding doesn't seem to concern them much at all. That's interesting.

4. Product Integration takes time.
Peoplesoft people are still calling Peoplesoft Peoplesoft. So for the time being, it's entirely reasonable to expect that Hyperion will be a 'wholly owned subsidiary' as far as customers are concerned. It's going to take a while for Oracle to learn what Hyperion customers like about Hyperion and what they don't like. So in order to do product integration smartly, they'll most likely run out the current planned release schedule on the Hyperion suite and then start looking to merge. Again, I'm thinking Data Integration Manager (Informatica OEM) and Analytic Integration Server will be the first likely casualties to all of Oracle's data pump tech. Then again, current customers must be served. Perhaps by Solutions 2007 in Orlando in a couple months, we'll hear a few more specifics.

5. IT objections mitigated.
Already, dithering customers have committed to Hyperion based on the fact of the merger. Oracle shops are now open to Hyperion BI. This is bad news for Business Objects seeds in particular. This is one issue that has been the bane of my existence, being one of those rare individuals who thinks both relationally and multidimensionally I have suffered endless tirades about what MOLAP can't do, by people who have no hands-on. When I explain to people that Essbase is a modular database technology that has Hybrid, MOLAP and Aggregate Storage, that it is partitionable both logically and physically, they still find it hard to believe because nobody thinks of Hyperion as a database company. Now instead of showing them case studies with 500 concurrent databases or 50,000 concurrent queries I can just say two words to cease all hostilities. "It's Oracle".

People forget that Hyperion Essbase was Teradata's choice for marting in their Active Data Warehouse strategy. So I will reiterate my trash talk against MSTR. You guys are in for a surprise. The database guy in me is just giggling silly, and I haven't been so pleased since IBM OEM'd Essbase for DB2OLAP.

6. Verticals
Back when I was talking with people who oughta know, the idea for the killer Essbase apps was a certification program. That is to say Essbase had (and still has) the capability of being a brandable kind of analytic engine, as in Analytics powered by Essbase. I was personally involved with the deal that almost got Essbase embedded into Siebel, and I've since heard where the strengths and weaknesses of the chosen technology are. In any case, Hyperion has dreamed of moving towards verticals and now with Oracle's coverage of vertical markets, there are opportunities galore for Essbase to be exactly that. Of course it will require some thoughtful people to make it happen, but the Oracle introduction can be there. The technology is ready. Today.