Our April 3 “encore presentation” on BIC2G can be found at http://oukc.oracle.com/static05/opn/login/?r=-1&c=654205814&t=checkusercookies.
Please note that this requires a Oracle single sign-on userid, but these are generally available for free from Oracle.The presentation is an overview of our March 20 more detailed presentation on BIC2G, but includes more time for questions and answers.
We’re very much looking forward to presenting several sessions at Collaborate 2009 in Orlando from May 3 through May 7. I presume that some blog readers will be at the conference as well. Please let me know and we can get together and say “hello” in person. We’re presenting several sessions at the conference as listed in our newsletter. See you at the conference!
We’re very pleased to announce that our contract with Oracle has been extended to ship BIC2G images worldwide. Previously, we were limited to United States and Canada, but due to interest worldwide in the BIC2G image, this restriction has been lifted. We still are governed by US export laws from shipping to countries such as Cuba, Iran, Sudan, Iraq, Libya, North Korea, and Syria, but otherwise, we’re no longer restricted.
So go to www.vlamis.com/bic2g and send us your orders. We look forward to servicing the worldwide Oracle community!
Our BIC2G offering is once again mentioned in the April 2009 North America OPN Newsletter. Oracle will be using the BIC2G image for several BIC2G master classes starting May 1. Here is a quote from the newsletter:
Maximizing your BIC2G ROI: Master Classes on Oracle BIC2G on Windows!
On March 20, Oracle announced that partners could now demonstrate Oracle’s Hyperion EPM and Oracle BI software without installing and configuring through use of the BIC2G pre-configured demo images. Oracle will offer several BIC2G master classes starting Friday, May 1 through Friday, June 22. This series of webcasts will explore how partners can benefit from the high impact, customer ready, scripted, and customizable demos that BIC2G provides.
For a webcast on BIC2G, click here.
For more information on BIC2G, click here.
Simba has opened up their beta program for their MDX provider that allows access to Oracle OLAP data natively from Excel. They also quoted me in their press release. Also, see what we published in our March newsletter on the subject.
If you have been wanting access to Oracle OLAP data using Excel pivot tables, we have a great solution for you! No longer can Microsoft Analytic Services users claim they have to use MSAS to get the access they want from Excel.
Please let us know if you would like more information on this or other solutions.
Well, our previous webcast on March 20 filled up–we heard that some people could not get in because the webcast was “full”. In addition, we didn’t have much time for questions and answers. So…we’re repeating the webcast, this time at a higher level, and allowing more time for Q&A. We will use the recording of the previous webcast for some of the detail on “exactly what’s in the BI (or EPM) image.” You can get details on the April 3 webcast at http://www.oracle.com/partners/education/regional/americas/educ_update.html; scroll down until you see “Oracle BI and Hyperion EPM (BIC2G) Demo Images on Windows for Partners - eSeminar ” on April 3.
In case you missed the webcast on Friday, March 20, Oracle University recorded it. The show included lots of people. We have a nice introduction by Oracle, followed by my overview of the image, then details on the EPM image, and details on the BI image, then ordering details, then a vision of the future of BIC2G. It has lots of screenshots, and all of the audio is nicely captured and you can fast-forward and rewind and skip to specific slides very easily (a pet peeve of mine with webcasts!) so you don’t have to watch it all if you don’t want to (but it was quite a show!). Check it out, then visit www.vlamis.com/bic2g to order your own copy. You do need an Oracle single signon account to view the webcast. My general account that I use for all the Oracle stuff worked fine. Be sure to click on the “Course” link on the left to get it started. Let me know if you have trouble viewing the webcast.
Just in case anybody has missed the news, we are actively shipping BIC2G (BI Challenge to Go) virtual machines with Oracle’s EPM and BI demos pre-installed to partners. You’ll find all sorts of information at http://www.vlamis.com/bic2g and in our March 2009 newsletter article on the subject.
In addition, if you want to see a full presentation on what is in the image, be sure to register for a live webcast, being hosted by Oracle University, taking place at 1:30pm Central time. Here is the connection information:
https://conference.oracle.com/imtapp/app/sch_mtg_details.uix?mID=136381247
888-921-7502 / 706-634-1712
Passcode: 70143
Web Conference
Conference ID / Key: 136381247 / 70143
This will serve as our “coming out party” of sorts for the BIC2G program. The webcast should be recorded and available within a week or so. We will have a link to it on our BIC2G web site. [Added 3/23: Watch the 1-hr recording with this link]
Oracle Partner Network members will now be able to demonstrate Oracle’s Hyperion EPM and Oracle BI software without the hassle of installing and configuring software in a demo environment. Through an exclusive licensing agreement with Oracle and Microsoft, Vlamis Software Solutions announces the availability of MS Windows virtual machines installed and configured with more than 20 gigabytes of Oracle software, data sets, and demo scripts. These are the same VMs used by internal Oracle sales consultants.
BIC2G: EPM (Hyperion EPM) is a complete pre-configured EPM solution stack that includes the EPM Applications Suite (Hyperion Planning, Hyperion Financial Management, Hyperion Strategic Finance, and Hyperion Essbase), the full set of Eden Company demo data sets and scripts, Oracle Business Intelligence Enterprise Edition Plus (OBIEE Plus), Oracle Data Integrator, and Oracle Database 11g.
BIC2G: BI is a complete pre-configured Oracle BI solution stack that includes Oracle BI Applications, Oracle Business Intelligence Enterprise Edition Plus (OBIEE Plus), Informatica, Oracle Real-Time Decisions, Oracle Data Integrator, Oracle SOA, Weblogic Server, Oracle Essbase, Oracle BI Publisher as well as Oracle Database 11g with OLAP, Data Mining, and Oracle Warehouse Builder.
Before the availability of this program, partners had to install and configure all of the software and load demos manually. These demo VMs greatly simplify the construction of a demo environment. All you need to do is install the VM “player” software, and load the VM purchased from Vlamis Software. The virtual machine has everything you need to run the demonstration within the VM. Although the VMs can be configured to connect to the internet, it is not necessary to connect to the internet to give demonstrations to customers.
These virtual machines are available for purchase by Oracle Partners for showing the power of Oracle software in demonstrations and proofs of concept. A Microsoft VHD image with evaluation license is available for $350 each and an unlimited VMware VM with a fully-licensed copy of Windows Server 2003 Standard Edition and Microsoft Office 2007 Small Business is available for $1500 each. Oracle Partner Network members can order all four VMs at www.vlamis.com/bic2g.
Let me go ahead and answer some questions that I have heard from some of you already.
Currently our agreement with Oracle only allows distribution to Oracle Partners. The major purpose of these demo VMs is to allow partners to demonstrate Oracle BI (including BI Applications) and Oracle Hyperion EPM software to customers.
We’re obviously very excited about this offering and look forward to sharing it with you. Look for more information at www.vlamis.com/bic2g and upcoming webcasts (including one hosted by BIWA scheduled for February 27 at 10:45am Central time), articles in Oracle Magazine, emails, etc., as we try to “get the word out”.
I was interviewed while at BIWA Summit 2008 for a video that has now been posted on the web. This is part of Oracle Magazine’s “Up Close Video” series. The interview is really mostly about BIWA and what we were trying to do with the user group and with the conference. My thanks go out to Jeff Erickson for producing the video.
The video is a companion piece to the article Expanding Intelligence in the March/April 2009 issue of Oracle Magazine about my involvement in BIWA and the BIWA Summit.