Oracle Updates Tools for JD Edwards EnterpriseOne

Published: January 29, 2008

by Alex Woodie

Oracle yesterday unveiled a new release of tools and technology underlying its JD Edwards EnterpriseOne suite of ERP applications. With JD Edwards EnterpriseOne Tools version 8.97, customers gain several new capabilities, including better support for Oracle's operating system, database, and middleware platforms, in addition to features like support for the Firefox Web browser, better service oriented architecture (SOA) capabilities, and a new Web-based console for administrators.

Like other ERP vendors, Oracle takes a two-fold approach to delivering software updates to its customers. By delivering tools separate from business logic, Oracle ensures that the task of supporting EnterpriseOne applications across the multitude of operating systems, databases, and Web application servers used by customers does not interfere with the adoption and maintenance of business logic releases. In other words, by moving the testing and certification process to the tools releases, Oracle minimizes the disruption that new infrastructure components can cause. (This wouldn't be such a big issue if all JDE apps ran on a single integrated platform, such as World does with the System i, but the Web-based, n-tier EnterpriseOne ERP suite is an entirely different animal.)

Much of the JD Edwards EnterpriseOne Tools version 8.97 focus is on supporting the latest releases of other Oracle products, including Oracle Enterprise Linux, the Oracle RDBMs, and, of course, Oracle Fusion Middleware, the sprawling collection of applications that includes Oracle Portal, Oracle BI Publisher, Oracle Single Sign-On, Oracle Internet Directory, Oracle Access Manager, Oracle JDeveloper, Oracle BPEL Process Manager, Oracle Enterprise Service Bus, Oracle Application Server, and (gasp!) Oracle Web Cache.

The new tools release also ensures users that EnterpriseOne has been proven to work with seven operating systems (unspecified versions of Windows, Unix, Linux, and i5/OS), four databases (Oracle, DB2, SQL Server, and an unnamed fourth), and two J2EE application servers--Oracle Fusion and IBM WebSphere.

"JD Edwards EnterpriseOne Tools 8.97 certifies later versions of these technologies to continue to offer the flexibility that our customers are used to enjoying," says Lyle Ekdahl, Oracle's vice president of product strategy.

One of the operating systems certified by Oracle to work with EnterpriseOne is Oracle Enterprise Linux. Actually, Oracle delivered support for its own flavor of Linux back in November with the release of EnterpriseOne Tools 8.96.2. However, it wasn't until the recent release that Oracle decided it was something worth publicly announcing.

Several other new capabilities were released with EnterpriseOne Tools 8.97, including Server Manager, which Oracle describes as a centralized Web console for monitoring and managing all JD Edwards EnterpriseOne server components. With this piece running, administrators can more easily update, configure, patch, and monitor the various server components that make up an EnterpriseOne installation.

EnterpriseOne's Web-based interface has also been overhauled with this release. Oracle says it has simplified menu navigation, added support for tabbed browsing, simplified the import and export of data when using forms, and delivered support for the Firefox Web browser from Mozilla, which has achieved a 16 percent share of the global market.

On the SOA front, Oracle says EnterpriseOne, when equipped with the latest tools, can participate in any SOA, without the need for any other third-party tools. This is possible through the inclusion of design tools, wizards, and reference implementations in Tools 8.97.

Oracle has also improved the reporting capabilities that are embedded into EnterpriseOne. The new release of tools allows users to launch a complete "run-publish-distribute" cycle from a single user interaction, the software giant says. It also makes it easier to generate reports in multiple formats.

EnterpriseOne Tools 8.97 is supported on EnterpriseOne versions 8.9 through 8.12, and is available now.

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