Following TimG and HenriV retweet about premier support extension can we really consider it a good news?

Won't it mean, for cloud skeptical minds, that the next on prem release won't happen before late 2018 or early 2019?

See ya in kscope and hoping to drink a fresh beer with each one of you as it is already +95F here!

They extended 11.1.2.1 a few years ago as well. 11.1.2.1 was released in April 2011, with premier support ending in April 2016. Premier support was extended by two years, and now ends April 2018.

I believe that 11.1.2.4 was released in February 2015, so the natural premier support ends February 2020, and is now extended ten months to December 2020? That seems a little arbitrary, I guess they they just rounded two months down to make the date easy to remember? 11.1.2.3 was extended too.

Sure, this *could* be related to future release plans, but I don't think that's a foregone conclusion.

Following TimG and HenriV retweet about premier support extension can we really consider it a good news?

Won't it mean, for cloud skeptical minds, that the next on prem release won't happen before late 2018 or early 2019?

See ya in kscope and hoping to drink a fresh beer with each one of you as it is already +95F here!

I usually arrive mid-day on Sunday, but I'm going out of my way to be at the conference by 9:30 AM at the latest this year.

8:45 AM Keynote: Matt Bradley, Sr. VP of Business Analytics Product Development
9:30 AM On-Premise Update
11:00 AM Bridge to Cloud (Hybrid)
12:00 PM Lunch Cibolo Canyon 5/6/7
1:00 PM EPM Cloud
2:30 PM Special Preview from the Data Relationship Management Team
3:10 PM EPM Cloud (Continued)
4:30 PM BI Cloud Services for EPM


As for future releases, I'm definitely hearing conflicting things about what's going on.. we had a nice contingent of experts on hand at the Dallas user group meeting a few weeks ago who spoke freely on this very topic, and there seemed to be a consensus that we won't see a big on-prem release for quite a while.

But then exactly one week later, I spoke with a knowledgeable partner principal who said that Oracle reversed course on this, and is back to committing to a major on-prem sooner than later. I asked him who his source was, and it was an authoritative Oracle employee.

So, who knows. Maybe we'll find out at KScope.

They extended 11.1.2.1 a few years ago as well. 11.1.2.1 was released in April 2011, with premier support ending in April 2016. Premier support was extended by two years, and now ends April 2018.

I believe that 11.1.2.4 was released in February 2015, so the natural premier support ends February 2020, and is now extended ten months to December 2020? That seems a little arbitrary, I guess they they just rounded two months down to make the date easy to remember? 11.1.2.3 was extended too.

Sure, this *could* be related to future release plans, but I don't think that's a foregone conclusion.

I don't understand all the details of the info that has been circulating saying that 11.1.2.*3* has Premier Support through date A while 11.1.2.*4* has PS through date B. That's not how Oracle has ever specified PS windows. This stuff is covered by documented Oracle policies that are broader in applicability than just EPM/BI.

PS attaches to the "major release", which is 11.1.2 level (not the "patch set", which is 11.1.2.1 or 11.1.2.4 or whatever). PS was originally going to expire in April 2016 (5 years from GA date), but Oracle extended it through April 2018 (in late 2013) then to December 2018 (just a couple of months ago) and now, reportedly, through 2020. A large extension following the short extension so closely suggests that Oracle are reacting to customer disquiet (which is great). Jeff, my take is that you're hearing rapidly changing stories because the story is changing rapidly.

All that said, I haven't found any official written statement of any of this yet. The relevant doc hasn't been updated since the extension to the December 2018 date. http://www.oracle.com/us/support/librar ... 069216.pdf

I usually arrive mid-day on Sunday, but I'm going out of my way to be at the conference by 9:30 AM at the latest this year.

8:45 AM Keynote: Matt Bradley, Sr. VP of Business Analytics Product Development
9:30 AM On-Premise Update
11:00 AM Bridge to Cloud (Hybrid)
12:00 PM Lunch Cibolo Canyon 5/6/7
1:00 PM EPM Cloud
2:30 PM Special Preview from the Data Relationship Management Team
3:10 PM EPM Cloud (Continued)
4:30 PM BI Cloud Services for EPM


As for future releases, I'm definitely hearing conflicting things about what's going on.. we had a nice contingent of experts on hand at the Dallas user group meeting a few weeks ago who spoke freely on this very topic, and there seemed to be a consensus that we won't see a big on-prem release for quite a while.

But then exactly one week later, I spoke with a knowledgeable partner principal who said that Oracle reversed course on this, and is back to committing to a major on-prem sooner than later. I asked him who his source was, and it was an authoritative Oracle employee.

So, who knows. Maybe we'll find out at KScope.

The symposium will be an interesting one for sure! Just wanted to mention that Matt Bradley has a session during the week called "The Future of On-Prem EPM" specifically to talk (and take questions) on these topics too.

Following TimG and HenriV retweet about premier support extension can we really consider it a good news?

Won't it mean, for cloud skeptical minds, that the next on prem release won't happen before late 2018 or early 2019?

See ya in kscope and hoping to drink a fresh beer with each one of you as it is already +95F here!

I believe Oracle is shifting position based on capabilities. Initially Oracle was pushing SaaS apps as the only solution. They are investing more in IaaS and PaaS now. The question we are asking, and Oracle is taking seriously is, "if I move to the "Cloud" using your IaaS or PaaS, are you going to tell me I'm using non-strategic software?"

The question becomes, do I need to go to SaaS if I want to go to the cloud with Oracle? They need to be very careful about that answer. I think they are aware of this and looking to figure out how to support different customer needs.

By IaaS do you mean "installing and running the 'on-prem' software on Oracle servers"?

I don't understand all the details of the info that has been circulating saying that 11.1.2.*3* has Premier Support through date A while 11.1.2.*4* has PS through date B. That's not how Oracle has ever specified PS windows. This stuff is covered by documented Oracle policies that are broader in applicability than just EPM/BI.

PS attaches to the "major release", which is 11.1.2 level (not the "patch set", which is 11.1.2.1 or 11.1.2.4 or whatever). PS was originally going to expire in April 2016 (5 years from GA date), but Oracle extended it through April 2018 (in late 2013) then to December 2018 (just a couple of months ago) and now, reportedly, through 2020. A large extension following the short extension so closely suggests that Oracle are reacting to customer disquiet (which is great). Jeff, my take is that you're hearing rapidly changing stories because the story is changing rapidly.

All that said, I haven't found any official written statement of any of this yet. The relevant doc hasn't been updated since the extension to the December 2018 date. http://www.oracle.com/us/support/librar ... 069216.pdf

Planning is an easy one -- pull PBCS out of its VM in the cloud and make it on premises.

But wither HFM? There is no future for that product. Is there? FCCS certainly isn't it and I don't think is intended to be. They'll stick the Candy Crush UI on it?

DRM becomes whatever their cloud tool is?

FDMEE becomes Data Management?

The problem I see is that their cloud products have gone off in different directions (PBCS being sort of, but only sort of cf. EPBCS) from their on-premises counterparts.

Essbase? Is what's in OAC ever coming to on-premises? Come to the sessions (Tim's and mine included) and you'll see how different the tool is from what we've known for so long.

They've cut the Gordian knot of keeping on-premises at parity with cloud to torture a phrase. How are they going to put it all together again when their cloud analogues have become so different both in purpose and architecturally?

Also, if what I have seen as right, we're talking July 2018. That's another year away.

I'm glad to read that there won't be a riot at Kscope and am incredibly interested to hear how they're going to present this. Beyond interested in fact.

Regards,

Cameron Lackpour

I don't understand all the details of the info that has been circulating saying that 11.1.2.*3* has Premier Support through date A while 11.1.2.*4* has PS through date B. That's not how Oracle has ever specified PS windows. This stuff is covered by documented Oracle policies that are broader in applicability than just EPM/BI.

PS attaches to the "major release", which is 11.1.2 level (not the "patch set", which is 11.1.2.1 or 11.1.2.4 or whatever). PS was originally going to expire in April 2016 (5 years from GA date), but Oracle extended it through April 2018 (in late 2013) then to December 2018 (just a couple of months ago) and now, reportedly, through 2020. A large extension following the short extension so closely suggests that Oracle are reacting to customer disquiet (which is great). Jeff, my take is that you're hearing rapidly changing stories because the story is changing rapidly.

All that said, I haven't found any official written statement of any of this yet. The relevant doc hasn't been updated since the extension to the December 2018 date. http://www.oracle.com/us/support/librar ... 069216.pdf

Thanks for this Tim, I thought the support windows were based on all four positions (11.1.2.1), this is the first time I've heard that it's three positions.

Essentially, yes.

At the patch set (fourth position) level, there *is* a time period during which the patch set is eligible for fixes and patch set *updates* (fifth position!) - it's usually one year from the release of the next patch set. After that Oracle support can say "too bad, you'll have to upgrade" for a bug, and will stop producing PSUs for the patch set. But that's not *directly* linked to the Premier Support timeline.

It's definitely complex.

I had to figure it out a couple of years ago and wrote a blog post to refer back to. I think all the policies in there are still in force and the links to Oracle sources are good: http://www.cubecoder.com/making-sense-o ... rt-policy/