For various fields that need a comprehensive content management solution, Oracle's Enterprise Content Management Suite 11g (ECM Suite 11g) is a useful product. As Oracle's premier content management suite, the Enterprise is a nod to the company's content management strategy that aims to provide buyers with various user-friendly apps that target a variety of consumer groups, as well as a rationalized back end.

What to expect from Oracle's ECM Suite 11g

According to Oracle's VP of Product Management Andy MacMillan, different fields and office departments such as the legal department and marketing all need a content management solution that will cater to their needs; marketing will benefit from an efficient web content solution, while the legal department will need a records management software. With these in mind, Oracle has come up with ECM Suite 11g that's pre-integrated with other handy middleware components like Identity Management and Enterprise Manager. Updated components also include Universal Records Management and Universal Content Management. The ECM suite also offers information rights management and modules for process management and imaging.

The 11g version allows companies to add new content to their corporate sites by using a servlet set and easy-to-use tag libraries specifically created for ADF applications, JavaServer Faces, and JavaServer Pages. These features basically place web content management atop those other pages, providing web developers with a time-saving solution.

For records management, Oracle was able to create more efficient reporting features and an easier-to-manage user interface. The latest version also offers improved content accessibility within the office network and third-party archiving support features.

Another upside to Oracle's latest content management suite is that the 11g version boasts of a more cohesive integration with Windows Office and Explorer. Currently, one of the company's goals is to come up with richer integrations with other operating systems. As a matter of fact, Oracle's acquisition of the Sun Microsystems has led to the company's richer integration between Open Office and ECM.

ECM Suite 11g's performance

Based on a white paper released by Oracle, the ECM Suite 11g's Universal Content Management on commodity hardware (single node setup) was able to process 11 million files (200 KB each) in a day.  Oracle was also able to test its ECM Suite 11g with its various Sun Oracle Database Machine configurations. A half-rack was able to take in 179 million files (100 KB each), while a quarter-rack setting processed approximately 91 million files (100 KB each) within one day.

Future plans for the ECM Suite

The company also plans to release a series of offerings similar to Exadata for software products, although there is no statement yet as to whether a product is being developed for ECM. Oracle may also offer in the future ingenius features for Microsoft.net, but MacMillan's statement was that "Our goal was to get the first version out."

Retail price

The original ECM Suite is priced at US$172,500 for each processor license it grants, although it wasn't confirmed whether the new version will have a similar price range. However, consumers can expect a hefty price, especially since Oracle's ECM Suite 11g is aimed at the high-end content management market.