The short answer: Oracle Middleware, also called Oracle Fusion Middleware (FMW), is Oracle’s family of application servers, integration, identity, collaboration and business intelligence products, with WebLogic Server at its center. It is one of the most common sources of Oracle license gaps, because many features are switched on at installation and the middleware that comes with E-Business Suite covers EBS only.
What is Oracle Middleware?
Oracle Middleware refers to a family of products ranging from application development tools, applications servers, and integration solutions to identity management, collaboration, and business intelligence reporting. It is also called Oracle Fusion Middleware (FMW), and Oracle WebLogic Server is its key component.
A short history of Oracle Middleware
The first product was Oracle Application Server in 1998. This contained a basic application server, Oracle Form Server & Reports Server. OAS transformed into the Internet Application Server (iAS). The iAS became the bedrock for hosting Oracle E-Business Suite applications.
Oracle’s Middleware stack grew with the acquisition of BEA’s Weblogic. iAS development gradually stopped and Weblogic became the flagship application server from Oracle.
Oracle, in due course, acquired a large number of content, integration & access management products. All of these products were, in a manner of speaking, re-branded as a member of the Oracle Middleware family of products. Hence Oracle Middleware is a loose nomenclature for a large set of products that may not readily form part of any specific functional segment.
Key Oracle Middleware products
The important middleware products from a license compliance management perspective are:
- Weblogic Server
- Oracle Application Server (OAS)
- Internet Application Server (iAS)
- SOA Suite (Service-Oriented Architecture Suite)
- Business Process Management Suite (BPM)
- WebCenter
- Business Intelligence Technology Products (OBI)
WebLogic Server editions
WebLogic Server editions create challenges in license compliance:
- WLS Basic
- WLS Standard
- WLS Enterprise Edition
- WLS Suite
Our guide to Oracle WebLogic licensing explains each edition and how it is counted.
Middleware used with E-Business Suite
This is one of the most common issues of license non-compliance in small and medium-sized users of Oracle E-Business Suite. The need to license different components of the middleware is not, many a time, clarified to customers during the initial purchase of the applications. This leads to unintentional non-compliance with huge risk exposures. See our E-Business Suite license review.
Oracle audit defense for middleware
The rules for Oracle Middleware are complex because of the large number of features that get enabled at the time of installation. The use of each product needs careful study. We have realised that Oracle’s own teams are ill-equipped to get to the root evidence of usage. Our Oracle audit defense starts from that evidence.
An audit letter, a renewal quote or a ULA end date on your desk? We check what Oracle, Microsoft, IBM or Broadcom is claiming, work out what you owe under your contract, defend against audits, and negotiate the rest down.