IOUG to focus on Database once more

In an interview with Database Insider this week, the Independent Oracle Users Group (IOUG) president Andy Flower has pledge to get back to basics. In a strategy he calls “The Year of the Member” Flower says that the purpose is to get back to the database community in order to support the entire user community, rather than focusing too much on applications or tools like Oracle Fusion Middleware.

Of the new strategy Flower said: “One priority is to renew our focus on optimizing database investments.

“With the availability of Oracle Database 11g Release 2, there are a lot of opportunities to take advantage of new features, and we want to make sure our users have the content available to do that.

“Security is another hot topic.

“This is a multilayered and complex issue, and we want to give our users a better understanding of what they can do at the database level to proactively secure data. For example, how to best use Oracle Database Vault.”

Naturally, the acquisition of Sun by Oracle came up, having as it does a massive impact on the MySQL community. Flower said: “We are working hard to integrate both communities.

“We want to make sure both groups can leverage our two decades of experience building, managing, and supporting databases.

“As a matter of fact, we have found a fair bit of overlap between the two communities.

“We did some MySQL sessions at COLLABORATE 10 last spring and had a lot of positive responses.

“We are building even better content for COLLABORATE 11, with sessions for users of both databases as well as programs for those who work strictly within MySQL.”

IOUG shows no signs of slowing down either, with Oracle OpenWorld on its way. Flower explained: “Oracle has been great about providing space for us, and we’re putting on something in the neighborhood of 30 sessions throughout the week, with Sunday being the biggest day.


“We are particularly prioritizing security, data warehousing, BI, and MySQL.

“It will be our first chance to meet many of the MySQL folks, and we are really looking forward to building those relationships.”