Oracle Media Resource

SaaS will be the norm. Pretty much all systems are already available in this format and most hotels are very comfortable using them - except for PMS. Sometimes this is for psychological reasons of personal comfort with having the data on premise; sometimes there's a genuine difficulty in obtaining reliable, cost-effective communications links. Nonetheless, I am certain this objection will fade over time. Oracle in particular has announced that it will only sell the new version 9 of Opera on a remotely hosted basis, setting the tone for the rest of the industry. Less customization. The age of expecting major PMS vendors to agree to significant enhancements for individual hotels is over. The smaller vendors will probably continue to do so, but it's not feasible for the larger ones. We don't expect Microsoft or Apple to customize their systems for us when we're ready to buy something new, we just adapt to what they offer. The same's true for Oracle, Infor and the other major PMS vendors; their systems are powerful and flexible enough to be useful in most situations. If you want something very specific you'll always be able to find a vendor who'll customize its system for you, just as you can run your own PC on Linux configured just the way you want it, but mainstream will be good enough for most.

Amazon just obtained a new competitor for its Amazon Web Services cloud hosting and development platform. Oracle is going head-to-head with Amazon with a slew of more than 24 new additions to the Oracle Cloud Platform. Oracle's new integrated cloud services include infrastructure, platform and software delivered as a service. Specific cloud-based services include hosted Exadata-based production databases, archive storage, Big Data, enterprise mobility, and application integration. Oracle says it offers the same products, with 100% compatibility, in the cloud and on premises, which means that companies can move to and from the cloud without changing applications. Furthermore, workloads can be moved to the cloud instantly. "Oracle is growing really fast," said Larry Ellison, CTO of Oracle, in public remarks. "Oracle is the only company on the planet that can deliver a complete, integrated, standards-based suite of services at every layer of the cloud. Those technology advantages enable us to be much more cost-effective than our competitors. Our new Archive Storage service goes head-to-head with Amazon Glacier and it's one-tenth their price."

Almost two years after an intensive e-commerce upgrade, Ulta Beauty is making steady progress toward its goal of reaching 10% of total sales via the Internet - a major milestone in the cosmetics segment.

Oracle Retail GM Jill Puleri, on how retailers are using stores to redefine the shopping experience

A conversation with Gordmans CIO Richard Heyman.

Workstation 6 newsbrief and image in June 2015 print issue.