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Oracle (Nasdaq: ORCL) has given Siebel customers an idea of what measures need to be taken for their existing applications to work with Oracle Fusion Middleware.
On Tuesday, it rolled out its road map to certify Siebel's business applications and analytics products on the Oracle middleware platform. Oracle has previously announced similar certification roadmaps for PeopleSoft and JD Edwards.
Although not unexpected, the move was welcomed by Siebel customers that have been waiting for this development since Oracle's acquisition of the company closed earlier this year.
"It is basically a necessary step towards Siebel application components being adopted on the Fusion platform," Yankee Group CRM analyst Sheryl Kingstone told CRM Buyer.
"It is also step forward towards meeting enterprise needs to use Siebel applications in a SOA (service oriented architecture) and composition environment," she added.
Certification Timetable
Oracle Fusion Middleware's Business Analytics Technology is already certified to work with Siebel 7.8. Other middleware modules that will be certified to Siebel during the second half of the year include Oracle Containers for Java, Oracle Java Messaging Services, Oracle Portal, Oracle Enterprise Service Bus, Oracle BPEL Process Manager and Oracle Identity Management. The Siebel 7.8 certification will be completed during the second half of this year.
Siebel 8.0, which is not yet available, will be certified with Oracle Fusion Middleware, Oracle promised.
Once certified, organizations that have implemented Oracle's Siebel CRM and Oracle's Siebel Business Analytics applications can use Oracle Fusion Middleware to integrate into PeopleSoft, JD Edwards and Oracle E-Business Suite, according to Oracle.
"With Oracle's middleware family of products, Siebel users can now benefit from a truly adaptable IT infrastructure based on open standards, giving them the ability to seamlessly integrate their customer-facing business processes with new or existing systems, protect their customer 
information, and make changes to those processes as their business evolves," said Thomas Kurian, senior vice president of Fusion Middleware Development, Oracle.
Product Road Maps, Then and Now
It is still unclear which features and functions will be available in the next generation of CRM products that Oracle -- once it has digested its many acquisitions -- will release.
To be sure, that is a while off. Currently, Oracle is focusing on maintaining its promised timeline to provide the necessary integration blueprints to customers of its acquisitions, as well as the expected product releases of the acquired vendors.
Last week, for instance, it duly rolled out the latest upgrades to Siebel's OnDemand application. Given the angst surrounding many of Oracle's acquisitions, such a routine release was a welcome sign that Oracle plans to continue with established product road maps.
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