deal architect

"Innovation is the theme of 11g"

So says Oracle of its new database release. One that claims ROI from compliance benefits . The Deloitte SOX team presumably helped them build the ROI calculator -).

But Charles Phillips, President hedges. “It may not be the CEO (CFO) that says I need that, but it may be the DBA that can translate these features to savings....Our DBAs will be our evangelists.”

Release 11 of a 28 year old product is not innovation by most definitions. Measure it against my MAGIC framework for tech innovation, for example. 

In fact, as companies look at utility computing and newer application management services, database software (including looking at Microsoft and open source options) and DBAs (shared, remote monitoring and tuning as an option) are attractive line items for cost squeezing. A lot more so than when the last major release, 10g came out - 4 years ago.

And competing for dollars with equally poor payback and large upgrades like MS Vista and mySAP. Erik Keller predicted this tsunami. Something's gotta give.

Oracle has not disclosed detailed pricing yet. The best innovation it can deliver is aggressive price/performance points. And I mean aggressive.

Farcebook

So on an oldies station this morning I hear the 1975 hit Convoy - the song that launched the CB radio craze. And I go that was social networking technology then. Now we have Facebook. Rumors are it is worth $ 6 billion. 

Usually mainstream media and bloggers are busy taking potshots at each other. But Facebook has both agreeing - The Guardian and Scoble.

After all it is about US - because WE are Time Magazine's "Person of the Year"

But that's precisely the problem. Too much focus on US. And what we are doing in our personal lives. No wonder Tom Wolfe calls us "Narcissistic Shrieks".

Not enough on issues, products. Oh sure, many of my Irregular friends rave about Facebook as a platform and its technology.

But we already have blogs and our reader networks. Google Groups networks. LinkedIn networks. Plaxo networks. Twitter Networks. 

Many of my Facebook friends are already on LinkedIn. Most of my LinkedIn contacts, I am sure, just want me as a scalp to add to their list of hundreds. Do we need another channel? 

If so, I will take the channel with "10-4. Rubber Duck." In fact, I may make a duckie my photo on Facebook. Nah, what I have now - a big question mark -  is more appropriate. Till this luddite can figure out what to do with yet another social network.

"Deserves to be outed"

"Anybody who doesn’t know how to post anonymously on the net is incompetent and deserves to be outed."

says an anonymous commenter on a blog on John Mackey, the CEO of Whole Foods, who in turn is supposed to have posted comments on a competitor under an assumed name.

Yes, that's what I would like on my resume. "Successfully posted annoying comments on various blogs and chat rooms for years. And they never did figure out who I was. I showed them my competence!"

As I wrote here -

"Made me wonder what extremes the authors were going to conceal their identities. Using different IP addresses depending on their identities? And why? Were they in the FBI witness protection program? Were they blogging from a country with a repressive regime? I certainly understand if they are."

Update: NY Times provides more examples of what it calls "sock-puppetry"

"Mileage Runs"

I am a rank amateur offering to pay 10c a plane mile.

Wired Magazine on "mileage runners":

"I brag ...: "4.3 cents per mile. Pretty good, right?

Um, I think everyone defines 'good' a little bit differently," he says kindly, before explaining that he typically won't do mileage runs that come in at more than 2 cents a mile. "

Seriously, with all the other travel I do, no such runs for me. And as some of the readers comment, with concerns about global warming I would get a twinge of guilt today.

But in my younger days ago did a few of these - Pan Am just called them round-the-world fares back then....

Dad, I'm bored

Reading Ross Mayfield's "GeekDad" post at Wired Magazine, I suspect I will not hear "I'm bored" when I take my daughter, son and a cousin's son (all 13- 15) on a trip to California next week.

Here are some of the agenda items this hyper set of dad and kids are juggling so far:

- friends at Disney arranging a tour through some of its gaming/animation software areas
- a cousin in La Jolla hosting us for a day
- the Harry Potter launch evening in Manhattan Beach
- friends at Universal/NBC trying to get us into the Leno or Daly show
- my daughter, about to represent Florida at a national chess invitational spending a few days with the girl representing N. California at that tournament, then flying to Philly with her
- the two boys entertaining themselves at the lowly Inn at Spanish Bay while I present at the Sandhill conference
- the boys checking out the spectacular house at Pebble Beach I raved about last year
- friends at the SF Giants inviting us to a game. (If stars align may be Bonds will hit his record run that night)
- a trip to Alcatraz and San Francisco's Chinatown
- on way back home spending 3 hours in Las Vegas
- couple of other items brewing

All this in roughly a week. See what I mean when I say I will be shocked if they say "I'm bored".

My wife is wisely staying at home. Thankfully, most of our CA trip is free courtesy of friends at Southwest, Marriott, Hilton and elsewhere.

Should help offset her shopping bills -)

Surely they missed a zero...or two?

Fellow Irregulars Josh Greenbaum and Zoli Erdos talk about prices around SaaS CRM; salesforce.com versus Microsoft's new CRM Live versus Zoho.

And I am thinking how surreal it is we are talking a few dollars a user a month, in a world where the on-premise vendors like  Oracle and SAP and their implementation partners are still quoting  thousands of dollars a user a month. Indeed I found this Aberdeen report on the Oracle site earlier this year.

Surely, the SaaS world is not checking for typos - may be a comma or a zero missing?

Burning Questions: Channel Dollars and Drag

I am starting a new category of posts called Burning Questions – each on an technology industry issue to generate, hopefully, spirited reaction amongst my readers. Like last week’s Bluebird post. I have always liked the way Rich Karlgaard (editor at Forbes) posts leading questions and readers debate the topic.

 I am kicking this off with the role of channels in technology sales. How do vendors balance the benefit from channel partners with the impact they have on TCO?

• The first time I met Dave Duffield in early nineties he launched into me about how my firm Price Waterhouse was making PeopleSoft look bad because of our large implementation proposals. Of course, I had to defend PW but I liked the fact he was thinking of his customer dollars. 

• In the mid-90s, SAP faced with huge consulting bills around its projects, introduced its ASAP (Accelerated SAP) methodology to expose its customer base to vanilla implementation paths - to the annoyance of most of its SI partners which were proposing much more elaborate implementation paths

• In 2000, when I was running IQ4hire, a marketplace for IT projects, Cisco asked us to consider private labeling the exchange to monitor their implementation partner proposals and certifications. 

I bring out these examples to contrast against others than do not appear to worry as much about partner impact on TCO.

• Do telecom vendors care how hotels add significant premiums to their WIFI, long-distance and other  products - much to the annoyance of their customers? 

• Take Apple’s iPhone relationship with AT&T. The base pricing over two years of the mobile service is over $ 1,400. Add texting, Hotspot charges if you travel, international calling and roaming, international data plans. Over 2 years, you could easily be at 5X to 15X the cost of the iPhone . Did Apple try to influence the cost of the service to its customers?

• Back  to SAP. ASAP has been out almost a decade and its systems integration partners      continue to charge decent sized implementation fees. For the field sales person does a partner who may bring him/her in to other deals matter more or does the customer TCO? 

So here are some questions for my readers:

As a vendor how do you handle conflicting priorities between customer TCO and channel driven business? Has business development/partnering become easier or more difficult in the last few years? As a buyer do you depend on vendors for recommendations on partner products or do you make your own independent assessment? 

Other thoughts?  

More New Renaissance

On my innovation blog

Technology Innovation and Africa
MVNOs - Mobile Virtual Network Operators
Digital Barbie Dolls
Internet as Giant "Tootsie Roll"
Gadget Tracking
Next-Gen Process Documentation
UMA - Unlicensed Mobile Access

Eight wonders of the world

I saw it on CNN.com last night but Sadagopan (Suds) nicely summarizes the newly anointed 7 wonders of the world.  A bit controversial with the Pyramids of Egypt and a few other sites missing, but that's what blogs are for - debates -)

So, why is the title of this post eight wonders? Eighth is for modern technology. Suds has been to all 7 of the wonders thanks to modern aviation. I have a cousin who has been to 125 countries (he is almost 20 years older but looks younger than me). 100 million people around the world voted for the 7 wonders through the web and cell phone SMS.

I check my site stats on extremetracking.com, and it tells me folks from 187 countries have visited my blog (technically only 185 since it also lists Anonymous Proxy and Unknown as "countries"). And I marvel - for a few hundred dollars a year, with no marketing expense - I have such a widely dispersed readership. 9 more to go if Matt is correct about number of countries in the world.

And then I download the Skype Toolbar for Firefox, and little flags start popping up on web sites.  Click through and you can reach so many people wherever so easily  for so little.

So I am jealous of Suds - I have only been to 3 of the wonders. And my cousin - I have only been to 40 countries. But I am smug that with Google Earth and other modern technology I can probably "enjoy" the rest without their jet lag. And stay in touch with my new reader friends in Myanmar and Kyrgyzstan. And periodically visit a blogging buddy Simon who keeps reminding how beautiful his native land, S. Africa is.

TSA reads my blog - Congressman Cole does not..

On a flight this week, the airport announcement said the TSA limit for gels and liquids had been increased from 3 oz to 3.4oz.

Hey, may be they read my two blogs here and here....

I wish the NRCC would read my blog about the continual telemarketing from Congressman Cole. As the comments there show, they are calling folks all over the country. I have been called twice since that post. Another dinner with President Bush and another invitation for his "council". With more urgency this time.

Alas, the TSA decision has nothing to do with my posts. Apparently the rule change went in to effect last November but TSA's own literature and worse, its own staff do not appear to know about it.

Any one want to buy a bunch of 3 oz Gillette Clear Gel Deodorant? May be I should offer to donate them next time Congresssman Cole calls -)