Five Questions for Oracle's SaaS Partner Leader

By samdizzy

Kevin_O'Brien SaaS Oracle

1. Public Clouds: It has been more than two years since Oracle products were licensed to run on Amazon Web Services. What type of trends are you seeing with Amazon and other public cloud providers? Also, are Oracle channel partners shifting some customer assets onto Amazon and other public clouds? Also, are SMB solutions providers embracing Oracle’s cloud efforts?

2. OPN Specialized: I’m on a flight and my memory is failing me. But I think Oracle launched the Oracle PartnerNetwork (OPN) Specialized partner program about a year ago. Have you been launching any specializations for VARs and MSPs that have cloud-centric business practices?

3. Oracle SaaS App Store?: In recent months, we’ve seen the launch of Ingram Micro Cloud and Rackspace AppMatcher, two destinations that help partners and customers find SaaS and mobile applications. Can we expect a similar search engine, marketplace or app store from Oracle — something that helps partners find SaaS solutions built atop Oracle platforms?

4. Service Provider Licensing: Oracle has introduced service provider-type pricing to help partners develop recurring revenue, pay-as-you-go solutions atop Oracle’s databases and applications. Have ISVs and partners embraced the service provider licensing model? Can you share any milestones?

5. Oracle OpenWorld: The big event is Oct. 2-6 in San Francisco. Care to tell me (and several thousand readers of this blog post…) your potential SaaS and cloud messaging for the conference? Sure, it’s still eight months or so away… but it’s never too early to leak news to Talkin’ Cloud. Kidding aside: Can we expect cloud- and SaaS-centric workshops at OpenWorld?

Bonus Question: Hey, I’m always looking to sneak in an extra question or two. Here’s one: SAP claims to be gaining momentum with its SaaS offering, Business ByDesign. And now Microsoft has launched its Dynamics CRM Online worldwide. Is Oracle feeling any competitive pressures as on-premise giants like SAP and Microsoft promote more cloud options?

That’s it for now. Assuming weather doesn’t stop my cross-country trek from New York to Silicon Valley, I’m set to meet O’Brien in a few hours. Got SaaS and cloud questions for Oracle and O’Brien? Feel free to email me (joe [at] NineLivesMediaInc [dot] com) or post a comment.

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