OTN TechBlog

Java EE 7 has been approved, and the final bits with be available soon. We'll have a live webcast on June 12 to kickoff Java EE 7in style. The Java EE team will provide an overview of the release, and lots of technical details from the experts. 

Register here to join us for a live webcast introducing Java EE 7! The Java EE 7 platform JSR has been approved, and we are now counting down the days to begin developing with many new Java EE features.

The online web event, hosted by Java EE evangelist and expert Arun Gupta, includes:

• Business Keynote (Hasan Rizvi and Cameron Purdy)
  
• Technical Keynote (Linda DeMichiel)
• Java EE partner and community member interviews
• Fifteen 20-minute technical breakout sessions
• Technical overview of features in new and updated JSRs
  
• Delivered by the JSR specification leads
• Live Chat
• Split into three tracks
  
• Scalable, dynamic HTML 5
• Increasing developer productivity
• Meeting enterprise demands
• Demonstrations on developing with Java EE 7
  

The event will run with live chat at two times:

      Wednesday, June 12, 2013 / Thursday, June 13, 2013

• 9 a.m. PT / 12 p.m. ET / 5 p.m. London
• 9 p.m. PT / 12 a.m. ET (Thursday) / 2 p.m. Sydney (Thursday) 
  

Register now for the best seats. ;-)

“Take Java to the Edge”

You know Java, now really know Java. Learn about the latest technical improvements in Java from the source. Watch informative tutorials (that you can repeat at your own pace) to improve your Java programming expertise and engage in live chat sessions with the preeminent Java experts.

Register NOW!

Join this FREE virtual event where you will learn about:

• Improved developer productivity and HTML5 applications
• Language improvements in Java SE to accelerate application development
• Features in Java that help you begin programming on a wide range of embedded devices
• Don't miss this opportunity. Register NOW!

AMERICAS/CANADA – June 19th, 2013

09:00 a.m. - 01:00 p.m. PDT
12:00 p.m. - 04:00 p.m. EDT
01:00 p.m. - 05:00 p.m. BRT

Register NOW!

With Oracle OpenWorld 2013 in San Francisco on the horizon you may have already seen some mention of the Oracle Excellence Awards. But do you know what these awards are all about?

The Oracle Excellence Awards recognize the achievements of members of the Oracle community in eleven award categories across the spectrum of roles involved in making things happen in enterprise IT. Several categories will be of particular interest to Oracle Technology Network members. These include:

Data Warehouse Leader of the Year

Database Administrator of the Year

Java Business Innovation

Oracle Fusion Middleware Innovation
This category recognizes accomplishments in the following sub-categories:

• Oracle Exalogic Elastic Cloud
• Oracle Cloud Application Foundation
• Oracle Service-Oriented Architecture & Business Process Management
• Oracle WebCenter
• Oracle Identity Management
• Oracle Data Integration
• Oracle Application Development Framework and Fusion Development
• Business Analytics (Oracle BI, Oracle EPM, and Oracle Exalytics)

Oracle Magazine Technologist of the Year
Recognizes individual accomplishment in the following categories:

• Big Data Architect
• Cloud Architect
• Database Developer
• Enterprise Architect
• Mobile Architect
• Social Architect

Winners in each category in the Oracle Excellence Awards get complimentary passes to Oracle OpenWorld 2013 in San Francisco, along with other benefits. This is a big deal!

Nominations for the categories listed above close June 21, 2013. So if you or someone you know is worthy of this recognition, what are you waiting for?

 Click the links above for more information.

A guest post from:

Sonya Barry
Director of Community Infrastructure
Community Manager Java.net and Oracle Technology Network

The OTN Discussion Forums are about to get a major overhaul. More than a simple upgrade, we're doing a complete content migration to a brand new platform for the Oracle Technology Network Community. The new Community space will have vastly improved search and performance out of the box and the ability for users to configure their own dashboards. Over the next few months we'll be adding other features like reply by email and direct messaging between users. We're also doing a lot of cleanup - many of the existing forums are for older product versions so we're moving them to the archives, which will be searchable. The biggest makeover will be in the Java space, with new forums for several products and merging some content areas together where it makes more sense to simplify them.

We'll be taking the forums offline at 9pm Pacific on Friday May 3 for a few hours, and then they will be back a few hours later with read-only access while we do the data migration. We expect to switch over to the new platform in production on Monday morning.

More information here: https://wikis.oracle.com/display/Forums/OTN+Forums+Migration+and+Upgrade

Two Oracle Technology Network events coming up next week in New York City will answer several critical questions for architects and developers. One question is, "Where can I get a couple of free meals?" Another question is, "Where can I learn more about Cloud Computing and Big Data and sharpen my skills in hands-on labs focused on relevant Oracle technologies?"

OTN has the solution for both your belly and your brain.

On Tuesday May 7 OTN Developer Day: Cloud Application Development will bring you up to speed on Oracle Cloud services for developers with an agenda that includes intensive hands-on labs in two parallel tracks, one for those interested in developing with the Oracle Database Cloud Service, and one for those interested in developing with the Oracle Java Cloud Service. Seating for this free event is limited, and pre-registration is required. Register now.

Two days later, on Thursday May 9, OTN Developer Day: Big Data will offer yet another opportunity for free breakfast and lunch along and a schedule that includes four hands-on labs focused on Oracle NoSQL Database, MapReduce, Hadoop, Oracle Database, and Oracle Advanced Analytics. Seating for this event is also limited, but you can register now to insure your spot.

Visit the registration pages for each event for session abstracts and other important information.

Boston in March is divine with the faint smell of beer and corn beef still lingered in the air from St Patrick's Day!  What had me in Boston you might ask at the end of March?  It was EclispeCon!  Oracle had several sessions talking about the various projects we are involved in and a booth where we talked about many of the fine products that Oracle has to offer Eclipse Developers.

Oracle Products:

• Oracle TopLink 
• Oracle Enterprise Pack for Eclipse
• Oracle Java Mission Control
  

Eclipse Community Projects:

• Sapphire
  
• Hudson Continuous Integration
  
• EclipseLink
  
• Dali Java Persistence Tools
  

While we were there the OTN CommunityCast crew we took some video with Oracle Experts/Speakers about these projects and products.

Why was Oracle at EclipseCon 2013?
In this short video Donald Smith, Java SE Management team, tells us why Oracle is at EclipseCon 2013.

Oracle Eclipse Developer Tools and the Cloud
Greg Stachnick Talks to us a little about the two talks he gave at EclipseCon 2013; Extreme Java EE Productivity with Eclipse and the Free Oracle ADF Essentials and Oracle Developer Cloud Service.

Dali Tooling for Dynamic Persistence at Eclipsecon 2013
Neil Hauge an Oracle Developer and the Project lead for the Dali Eclipse project talks to us a little about some of the points he covered in his talk about Dali at EclipseCon Boston 2013.

Hudson at Eclipsecon 2013
Jim Clark (Oracle Architect) and Winston Prakash  (Project lead for Eclipse Hudson) talk about Large-Scale adoption of Hudson and how Oracle is actuating putting this into practice.

The following list represents the Top 10 most popular videos on the OTN YouTube Channel for the past 30 days. Recognize anyone?

1. The Oracle ACE Cookbook: Lewis Cunningham
   Sometimes a cookbook is just a cookbook! Oracle ACE Director Lewis Cunningham talks about his collection of actual food recipes from members of the Oracle ACE community, and shares his thoughts on how the database world has changed since he first started blogging about it eight years ago.
2. Lucas Jellema: SOA, Events, BPM, and Oracle ADF
   Oracle ACE Director Lucas Jellema, CTO for AMIS Systems, talks about his latest OTN article, and about SOA, BPM, Oracle ADF, and his participation in the OTN Yathra Tour in India.
3. Marc Sewtz: APEX 4.2 Mobile App Development
   Marc Sewtz demonstrates new features he built into APEX4.2 to support Mobile App Development.
4. Author Interview: SOA Made Simple
   Oracle ACE Directors Lonneke Dikmans and Ronald van Luttikhuizen talk about their latest book, "SOA Made Simple" (Packt Publishing, 2012).
5. David Peake: APEX 4.2 New Features
   David Peake, PM for Oracle Application Express, gives a quick overview of some of the product's features.
6. Are You Future Proof? - Evolving Skills for Architects and Developers
   Oracle ACE Directors Ron Batra (AT&T), Basheer Khan (Innowave Technology), and Ronald van Luttikhuizen (Vennster) discuss the evolution in the skills needed for success as a software architect or developer.
7. Dr. Frank Munz: "Oracle WebLogic Server 12c: Distintive Recipes"
   Dr. Frank Munz, the author of "Oracle WebLogic Server 12c: Distinctive Recipes," talks about his new book, the companion series of videos, and some of his speaking engagements.
8. Dimitri Gielis: Apex 4.2 and Responsive Web Design
   Oracle Ace Director Dimitri Gielis talks about features in Oracle Application Express 4.2.
9. Greg Marsden: Hugepages = Huge Performance on Linux
   Greg Marsden of Oracle's Linux Kernel Engineering Team talks about some common customer performance questions and about making the most of Oracle Linux 6 and Transparent HugePages
10. Arup Nanda: Engineered Systems
    Oracle ACE Director Arup Nanda discusses Oracle Exadata, engineered systems, and the changing role of the database administrator.

What are you watching?

Here are the Top 10 most popular videos on the Oracle Technology Network YouTube Channel for the past 30 days.

1. Interview: Dr. Frank Munz "Oracle WebLogic Server 12c: Distintive Recipes"
   Dr. Frank Munz, the author of "Oracle WebLogic Server 12c: Distinctive Recipes," talks about his new book, the companion series of videos, and upcoming speaking engagements.
2. APEX 4.2 Mobile App Development
   Marc Sewtz, from the core Oracle Application Express Development Team, demos the new features he built into APEX4.2 to support Mobile App Development.
3. Lucas Jellema: SOA, Events, BPM, and Oracle ADF
   Oracle ACE Director Lucas Jellema, CTO for AMIS Systems, talks about his latest OTN article, and about SOA, BPM, Oracle ADF, and his participation in the OTN Yathra Tour in India.
4. APEX 4.2 New Features
   David Peake, PM for Oracle Application Express, shares a quick overview of features in APEX 4.2.
5. Dimitri Gielis on APEX 4.2 and Responsive Web Design
   Oracle Ace Director Dimitri Gielis talks about cool new features in Oracle Application Express 4.2.
6. Greg Marsden: Hugepages = Huge Performance on Linux
   Greg Marsden of Oracle's Linux Kernel Engineering Team addresses some common customer performance questions and talks about making the most of Oracle Linux 6 and Transparent HugePages.
7. Oracle ACEs Like ...
   A video montage created by OTN DBA/Database Developer Community Manager Todd Trichler featuring members of the Oracle ACE Program.
8. Wim Coekaerts: Fun with SunRay
   Wim Coekaerts, SVP of Linux and Virtualization Engineering at Oracle talks about some of the new SunRay Hardware he gets to play with.
9. Arup Nanda: Engineered Systems
   Oracle ACE Director Arup Nanda discusses Oracle Exadata, engineered systems, and the changing role of the database administrator.
10. Are You Future Proof? - Evolving Skills for Architects and Developers
    Oracle ACE Directors Ron Batra (AT&T), Basheer Khan (Innowave Technology), and Ronald van Luttikhuizen (Vennster) share their thoughts on the evolution in the skills needed for success as a software architect or developer.

Mobile World Congress this week in Barcelona is a gathering of over 70,000 people to discuss the state of mobile communications. As the MWC brochure says, "The mobile ecosystem is expanding at lightning speed, with endless innovation and new applications of mobile technology." Mobile World Congress used to just be about mobile phones and the industry surrounding them, but now "mobile" has redefined itself and is about sensors everywhere: cars, scooters, buildings, people, etc. The M2M (or "Internet of Everything") revolution is here, with mobile phones as just one of the many components that create an intelligent, connected world. The opportunities for developers in embedded and remote systems is almost endless.
There are several cars on display at Mobile World Congress. They have infotainment systems, GPS maps, and sensors recording everything from temperature to tire pressure. Embedded systems for cars is so pervasive that the European Union has started the process of requiring embedded technologies in all new cars by 2015.  It wants the life-saving eCall system to be fitted to all new models of cars and light vehicles. eCall is activated automatically as soon as in-vehicle sensors detect a serious crash. Once set off, the system dials the European emergency number 112, establishes a telephone link to the appropriate emergency call center and sends details of the accident to the rescue services, including the time of incident, the accurate position of the crashed vehicle and the direction of travel (most important on motorways and in tunnels).
Who is going to develop the apps for these innovative, embedded systems? You? If you want to get started, you should check out Java. Java has been on devices for a long time: smart cards, cars, ATMs, phones, underwater probes, and more. Java enables devices to be intelligent, scalable and supportable. Already know Java? Great, you can easily develop for sensors of any size. Learn more at OTN/Java. 

MySQL is the world’s most popular open-source database, and powers websites and applications of numerous leading and fast-growing organizations.

On March 12, we’re hosting the first Virtual Developer Day: MySQL at 9am PST to give you a one-stop shop to learn all the essential MySQL skills and the latest features in MySQL 5.6 GA. With a combination of presentations and hands-on lab experience, you’ll have the opportunity to practice in your own environment and gain more in-depth knowledge to successfully design, develop, and manage your MySQL databases.  Besides the great content you'll also be able to ask questions of Oracle’s MySQL engineering, support, product management, and sales consulting teams.  

This FREE virtual event has two tracks tailored for both fresh and experienced MySQL users. Attend the live sessions and sharpen your skills to:

• Develop your new applications cost-effectively using MySQL
• Improve performance of your existing MySQL databases
  
• Manage your MySQL environment more efficiently
  

If you’re in Europe, Middle East or Africa, don’t worry! We have another live event for you on March 19 at 9:00 GMT so you can join the sessions and get better with MySQL during your business hours. Don’t miss this opportunity so reserve your spot today for either event!

At the OTN Cloud Developer day, developers got a chance to try out the Oracle Cloud. I sat down with Diby Malakar, Director of Product Management, Oracle Cloud, to find out what's driving the cloud for developers. Diby discussed the pressures on software development organizations, and the problems that the cloud can solve.  

Diby described trends that are putting more and more pressure on development teams. With the need for cutting-edge infrastructures, enterprises are facing pressure to modernize to achieve the flexibility, scalability, and responsiveness that will help them remain competitive. But companies can rarely afford to increase the size of their staff. The difference between the increasing demand and the size of development resources is known as the "development gap." 

Diby explained that every passing year, we draw closer and closer to achieving the vision of the ubiquitously connected global village. The number of internet users today exceeds 2 billion worldwide, with global internet penetration estimated to grow from 35% at the end of 2012 to 42% by the end of 2016. The cloud provides opportunities to improve development costs, productivity and throughput by utilizing geographically dispersed teams and processes. At the same time, this flatter and more connect world is having a number of other effects. Data production will be 44 times greater in 2020 than it was in 2009, reaching a worldwide total of 7.9 zettabytes (or eight trillion gigabytes) by 2015. As developers are pressured to utilize that data to create more compelling applications and enable actionable business insights, companies are searching for solutions that will provide the unprecedented capacity, scalability, and speed to keep pace with that explosive growth.

Diby Malakar of Oracle Product Management explains how the cloud can close the "development gap" and describes features of the Oracle cloud.

Also, mobility is untethering individuals from needing to be at any particular place in order to be productive. In 2011, 420 million smartphones and 14 million tablets shipped. In 2016, those numbers will balloon to one billion and 96 million, respectively. Now project teams can be more global than ever, code sharing and collaborating from anywhere in the world as seamlessly as possible. The cloud is an infrastructure to help them do that.

Another trend is the impact of social interaction on applications and end-user expectations. Social platform adoption is such an integral part of our lives that 90% of all internet users now have an account on at least one social service. There are more than 13 million business pages on Facebook. As social behaviors continue to increase, modern development environments must keep pace and offer similar levels of seamless and frequent interaction.

Using cloud can help companies close the "development gap." The adoption of a standards-based cloud infrastructure enables companies to modernize at a gradual pace as modern and legacy element coexist, training both IT staff and end-users as they go along. Individual developers have their own set of reasons for embracing the cloud. Using the cloud can dramatically reduce provisioning, deployment and management time, and increase throughput and quality with more efficient construction and testing. You can learn more and get a free trial at cloud.oracle.com. 

As of this moment there are 49 videos on the Oracle Technology Network YouTube Channel, featuring conversations with the people who build Oracle technologies and the people who use those technologies. Here's the current list of the Top 10 most popular OTN videos.

1. Dr. Frank Munz: Distinctive Recipes for Oracle WebLogic Server 12c
   Dr. Frank Munz, the author of Oracle WebLogic Server 12c: Distinctive Recipes, talks about his new book, the companion series of videos, and upcoming speaking engagements.
2. Marc Sewtz: Oracle APEX 4.2 Mobile App Development
   Marc Sewtz from the core Oracle Application Express Development talks about new features built into APEX4.2 to support Mobile App Development and demonstrates an iPhone app built with the technology.
3. David Peake: Oracle APEX 4.2 New Features
   David Peake, PM for Oracle Application Express, offers a quick overview of some of the upcoming features in the new release, tells you where you can try it out for free.
4. Dimitri Gielis: Oracle Apex 4.2 and Responsive Web Design
   Oracle Ace Director Dimitri Gielis, one of the winners of the Oracle Social Network Developer Challenge at Oracle OpenWorld 2012 in San Francsicso, talks about new features in Oracle Application Express 4.2.
5. Wim Coekearts: SunRay Hardware
   Wim Coekaerts, SVP of Linux and Virtualization Engineering at Oracle, talks about some of the new SunRay Hardware he gets to play with.
6. Arup Nanda: Engineered Systems
   Oracle ACE Director Arup Nanda, winner of the 2012 Oracle Magazine Technologist of the Year award in the Enterprise Architect category, discusses Oracle Exadata, engineered systems, and the changing role of the database administrator.
7. Panel Discussion: Are You Future Proof? - Evolving Skills for Architects and Developers
   Oracle ACE Directors Ron Batra (AT&T), Basheer Khan (Innowave Technology), and Ronald van Luttikhuizen (Vennster) discuss the evolution in the skills needed for success as a software architect or developer.
8. Greg Marsden: Hugepages = Huge Performance on Linux
   Greg Marsden of Oracle's Linux Kernel Engineering Team talks about some common customer performance questions and making the most of Oracle Linux 6 and Transparent HugePages.
9. Oracle ACEs Like...
   This video montage created by OTN's Todd Trichler begins with a conversation with Vikki Lira and Lilian Buziak, the people behing the ORacle ACE program, and then introduces several members of that program.
10. Alex Gorbachev: Social Software Engineering
    Oracle ACE Director and Pythian CTO Alex Gorbachev talks his role as the organizer of the Oracle OpenWorld Blogger Meet-up and about the role of social media at Pythian.

What has six conferences in six cities across India and features presentations by thirteen experts in Oracle technologies? If your answer was OTN Yathra 2013, give yourself a round of applause.

OTN Yathra 2013, organized by Oracle ACE Director Murali Vallath, begins in Delhi on Saturday, 16 February 2013, and then makes its way to Mumbai (Monday,18 Feb), Pune (Wednesday, 20 Feb), Bangalore (Friday, 22 Feb), Hyderabad (Monday, 25 Feb), and concludes in Chennai on Wednesday 27 February. Among the thirteen speakers for the event are eight members of the Oracle ACE Program.

The goal of OTN Yathra 2013 is to reach out to the 400,000-member Oracle user community in India to "bring the Oracle community together, giving them awareness,improving the level of knowledge, and increasing the networking opportunities in the region."

Click here for registration and more information

Are you considering the Cloud for rapid, flexible, and cost-effective development of enterprise applications?

You are invited to attend OTN Developer Day: Cloud Application Development, Tuesday, February 12, 2013 - 8:30 a.m. – 3:00 p.m., a workshop of hands on labs and sessions. At this event, you will be able to network with peers and Oracle experts while you learn about Oracle Cloud's Platform as a Service (PaaS) offerings and the speed, flexibility, and productivity they offer. In addition to getting hands-on experience with Oracle Cloud, you will learn about:

• How to leverage Oracle Database Cloud Service to quickly develop and access Application Express applications

• How to use Oracle Java Cloud Service to deploy, test, manage, and monitor Java applications

• How Oracle Java Cloud Service integrates seamlessly with popular development tools like Maven, Ant, Eclipse, NetBeans, and JDeveloper

• How Oracle Developer Cloud Service helps manage development lifecycles effectively through integration with Hudson, Git and GitHub, and tasks and wikis

• How Oracle Messaging Cloud Service enables communication between software components to provide a dynamic, automated business workflow environment

• How Oracle Storage Cloud Service enables businesses to store and manage digital content in the cloud

Attendees will come away from OTN Developer Day: Cloud Application Development with detailed information about how Oracle Cloud can help you be a more productive Cloud application developer.

Tuesday, February 12, 2013
8:30 a.m. – 3:00 p.m.

Oracle Conference Center
350 Oracle Parkway
Redwood Shores, CA 94065

Register online now for this FREE event.