Introduction. Economics. Competitive brief. january 2013

Transcription

1 ( ) january Comparison is based on Oracle SOA Suite , Oracle BPM Suite running on WebLogic Application Server distributed as part of Oracle WebLogic Suite 2 Oracle describes to Fusion Middleware as a platform that includes multiple products including Oracle WebLogic Suite, Oracle SOA Suite, and Oracle BPM Suite - products/middleware/overview/index.html 3 See support renewal section in Oracle Technology Global Price List - com/us/corporate/pricing/technology-price-list pdf 4 Red Hat subscription model - subscription/ Introduction Technology changes at a rate that challenges companies to keep up. Technologies that were labeled new or emerging just a few years ago are now facing changes. Some changes are revolutionary while others are evolutionary. Today, an evolution is taking place with business process management (BPM). It is increasingly important that technologies like business rules management systems (BRMS) and complex event processing (CEP) complement and seamlessly integrate with BPM. The combination of BRMS, CEP, and BPM allow companies to create business solutions with less variability, improved accuracy, and greater environmental awareness with corresponding improvements in business outcome. The people and processes used to create business solutions are also evolving. Today, business solution creation and maintenance favor business resources over technical resources. Work from analysts and subject-matter experts (SMEs) no longer focuses on creating specifications handed off to technical resources for system design and build. We see business resources using tools created for them directly leveraging technology. Technical resources still provide important skills and capabilities for the business solution life cycle. However, their role is limited to the most technical aspects, without disrupting the work of the business resources. The work of the business and technical resources, just like the three technologies (BPM, BRMS, CEP), needs to be well-integrated to allow seamless and efficient interaction. Each JBoss Enterprise BRMS subscription from Red Hat combines powerful technology including BRMS, CEP, BPM, system management, and an application platform to run it all on. When compared with Oracle, you must use the combined capabilities of Oracle WebLogic Suite, Oracle SOA Suite, and Oracle BPM Suite 1 to match the capabilities found JBoss Enterprise BRMS 5.3. Economics There is a significant difference in total cost of acquisition between JBoss Enterprise BRMS 5.3 and the combination of Oracle WebLogic Suite, Oracle SOA Suite, and Oracle BPM Suite. While Red Hat does not believe that price alone drives purchase decisions, the economic advantage Red Hat has over Oracle is so significant that it shouldn t be overlooked. With an Oracle Fusion Middleware 2 purchase, there are 2 charges in the first year: one for software licensing and another for software update license and support fees. 3 In subsequent years, the Oracle renewal price for software update license and support is based on fees paid in the prior year, increased by the Inflationary Adjustment Rate (IAR). For licenses with an active Contractual Cap Rate (CCR), fees increase by the lower of the CCR or the IAR. With JBoss Enterprise Middleware, you pay for your annual subscription and are never charged software licensing fees. 4

2 9 See page 25 of the IBM white paper Comparing IBM WebSphere and Oracle WebLogic for 22% reference 10 See section of Oracle Fusion Middleware Installation Guide for Oracle SOA Suite and Oracle Business Process Management Suite 11g Release 1 ( ) - E23943_01/doc.1111/e13925/configure.htm#CACDCFDG 5 JBoss NA Channel SKUs - jboss_channel_skus.html 6 See Oracle Processor Core Factor Table found on Oracle License and Service Agreement web page JBoss NA Channel SKUs - jboss_channel_skus.html 8 Oracle Technology Global Price List Getting started with a Red Hat subscription is very economical when compared with Oracle Fusion middleware. For example, compare the 2-year list price acquisition costs of Oracle WebLogic Suite, Oracle SOA Suite, and Oracle BPM Suite to JBoss Enterprise BRMS 5, deployed on 16 cores of Intel-based servers. For Oracle, the Intel cores are rated at a core factor of.5 per core. 6 Price comparison is based on 2 years of cost at current list prices for both JBoss 7 and Oracle. 8 For Oracle, the price list dated December 18, 2012, is used. First-year Oracle license costs for each product are calculated by multiplying 16 (cores) X.5 (core factor) X [product price]. Second-year Oracle software update license and support fees are calculated at 22% of license cost. 9 As shown in Table A, the 2-year list price acquisition costs for 16 cores of Oracle WebLogic Suite, Oracle SOA Suite, and Oracle BPM Suite is more than $1.84M USD at list price. JBoss Enterprise BRMS Platform 2-year acquisition costs are significantly lower than Oracle s combined product offers, as shown in Table B. JBoss Enterprise BRMS can be purchased with a one- or three-year subscription with 16- or 64-core count increments. Red Hat recommends managed subscriptions with premium support. Using this subscription profile, a JBoss Enterprise BRMS subscription is millions less (USD) than the Oracle offering at list price. Table A 2-year Oracle calculations using 16 cores Cores Core Factor List Price Total License Fees Oracle Web Logic Suite $45,000 $360,000 Oracle SOA Suite $57,500 $460,000 Oracle Business $57,500 $460,000 Total $1,280,000 Software update license and support fees Oracle Web Logic Suite $9,900 $79,200 Oracle SOA Suite $12,650 $101,200 Oracle Business $12,650 $101,200 Annual Subtotal $281,600 2-year software update license and support fees total $563,200 2-year total Oracle cost $1,843,200 Consider the Red Hat cost advantages already presented. With dramatically lower costs to acquire and use JBoss Enterprise Middleware, how many more projects could you start? How much more focus could you give to innovation? Can you find enough technical advantages in Oracle WebLogic Suite, Oracle SOA Suite, and Oracle BPM Suite to justify the added expense of that software? Business process management JBoss Enterprise BRMS includes a BPM component based on the Business Process Model and Notation version 2 (BPMN) standard. This component is derived from the JBoss jbpm community project and includes all the BPMN-based functionality available from Red Hat. With Oracle, to get BPMN capabilities you must license the Oracle BPM Suite. However, according to Oracle documentation, to use Oracle BPM Suite you must also have the SOA Suite installed. 10 In order to install Oracle SOA Suite with access to all capabilities, you must have Oracle WebLogic Server 2

3 11 See tab labeled FMW on WebSphere and TomCat in System Requirements and Supported Platforms for Oracle Fusion 12 Oracle SOA Suite is listed as a WebLogic Suite option in the US Oracle Technology Commercial Price List - com/us/corporate/pricing/pricelists/index.html installed. 11 However, based on Oracle s public price list, you must use the Oracle WebLogic Server that is contained in the WebLogic Suite to run SOA Suite, which increases costs. 12 With JBoss Enterprise BRMS there are no pre-requisites for subscriptions to other JBoss platforms. Building business process models in a graphical environment is a common BPM market feature. JBoss Enterprise BRMS and Oracle BPM Suite allow users to graphically model and execute BPMN version 2 process flows. JBoss Enterprise BRMS uses BPMN for business process modeling using web- or eclipse-based tooling. It stores and manages these assets in a common repository. Advanced users even have the option to embed the designer tool in their own web-based applications. Oracle BPM Suite also allows you to create and modify BPMN processes using a web-based tool and stores and manages assets in a central repository. Oracle JDeveloper-based process modeling is also available for developers. JBoss Enterprise BRMS allows you to introduce domain-specific nodes into the BPMN modeling environments. Domain-specific nodes let you use the design tool palette for customization that reflects your business. This can result in processes more easily understood by business users and can help simplify business process development. Domain-specific nodes can be used for a single process, or be registered in the service repository and made available for use with any business process. Oracle BPM Suite does not provide domain-specific node functionality. Need backup for this statement. As a result, users cannot to customize the BPM business process designer palette. Table b JBoss Enterprise BRMS Platform with Management, 16 Core Premium JBoss Enterprise BRMS Platform with Management, 64 Core Premium Annual Subscription $36,000 $130,000 2-year Subscription $72,000 $260,000 Savings versus Oracle (USD) $1,771,200 $7,112,800 2-year oracle calculations using 64 cores Cores Core Factor List Price Total License Fees Oracle Web Logic Suite $45,000 $1,440,000 Oracle SOA Suite $57,500 $1,840,000 Oracle Business $57,500 $1,840,000 Total $5,120,000 Software update license and support fees Oracle Web Logic Suite $9,900 $316,800 Oracle SOA Suite $12,650 $404,800 Oracle Business $12,650 $404,800 Annual Subtotal $1,126,400 2-year software update license and support fees total $2,252,800 2-year total Oracle cost $7,372,800 3

4 13 See section 5.7 in Oracle Fusion Middleware Modeling and Implementation Guide for Oracle Business Process Management 11g Release ( ) - E23943_01/doc.1111/e15176/ process_editor_bpmpd. htm#bpmpd See reference in previous end note as well as section in same referenced document 15 Unique relative to Oracle BPM Suite 16 The rules engine is based on the Drools project, which is a widely used open source business rules engine and the subject of three published books. 17 Oracle Business Rules web site - technetwork/middleware/business-rules/overview/index.html What about business process designs generated using other tools? JBoss Enterprise BRMS allows you to import and export BPMN 2 models. This significant feature is missing from Oracle BPM Suite. 13 This is odd since the BPMN 2.0 specification includes both diagram interchange as well as model interchange, making BPMN models portable across tool vendors. As process diagrams are developed and mature, the need to share and review them increases. JBoss Enterprise BRMS can export process flows in formats such as ERDF, JSON, PDF, PNG, SVG, and of course BPMN2. Oracle export functionality is limited to PNG and Oracle Tutor files. 14 Once business processes are defined, your attention turns to execution. BPMN process flows can be executed natively via a central server using both JBoss Enterprise BRMS and Oracle BPM Suite. Both solutions allow you to define users and associated security that dictates what business processes can be controlled. Users log in through a web-based tool to work with assigned and unassigned tasks as well as launch and monitor new business process instances with proper security permissions. Unique to JBoss Enterprise BRMS is the ability to embed business processes execution in Javaand web-based applications. 15 You are not forced to run all business processes from a centralized server. Business processes, like business rules, are a powerful way to avoid having business logic hard-coded into custom applications. With JBoss Enterprise BRMS you get the flexibility to deploy business processes as you see fit with the accompanying economics that make that option feasible. As business processes execute, some may have human tasks embedded. Human tasks are manual business process interactions that might include using a simple web-user interface or mobile device application. JBoss Enterprise BRMS and Oracle BPM Suite both support human tasks implemented outside of the BPM server. JBoss Enterprise BRMS provides a default implementation of a human task service based on the WS-HumanTask specification. The implementation is fully pluggable, meaning that users can integrate their own human task solution, if necessary. This allows users with existing implementations of a WS-HumanTask to get even more value out of that deployment. Oracle does not leverage the WS-HumanTask standard for its external human task integration solution. The ability to easily create custom applications for business processes is an important factor to consider. Without this ability, you may force business process users to an environment used for BPM human tasks and nothing else. Between the JBoss Drools community project v5.1 and JBoss Enterprise BRMS v5.1 from Red Hat, there were 150+ bug fixes, 5 security fixes, 2 customer feature requests, and several performance enhancements. Business rules management system JBoss Enterprise BRMS includes a powerful business rules engine and rule authoring tools, together with a management system and repository. 16 JBoss Enterprise BRMS makes it possible to manage and automate the business rules that drive IT applications. Business analysts and application developers using JBoss have confidence that rules correctly implement business policies and comply with external regulations. Oracle s business rules capabilities are a component of the SOA Suite and BPM Suite. 17 Oracle business rules capabilities include a RETE rules engine, development tools to create rules and associated artifacts, a software development kit (SDK or devkit) to manipulate rule dictionaries, and an SOA Composer application for working with deployed dictionaries that are part of an SOA composite application. JBoss Enterprise BRMS includes all of the aforementioned Oracle features and adds capabilities that Oracle is missing. The asset repository is likely the most important piece of functionality found in JBoss Enterprise BRMS but missing from Oracle business rules. Business rules and processes that are managed by JBoss Enterprise BRMS Platform are stored in the repository as 4

5 18 Item C.10 in Oracle Business Rules Frequently Asked Questions section of Oracle Fusion Middleware User s Guide for Oracle Business Rules 11g Release 1 ( ) - E23943_01/user.1111/e10228/faq. htm#bgbejgei 19 Customers may be able to secure their source code control system. However, that is not an Oracle provided feature 20 See section in the Oracle Fusion Middleware User s Guide for Oracle Business Rules 11g Release 1 ( ) guide - E23943_01/user.1111/e10228/rtdt. htm#babeijbe 21 See section in the Oracle Fusion Middleware User s Guide for Oracle Business Rules 11g Release 1 ( ) guide - E23943_01/user.1111/e10228/rtdt. htm#babeijbe assets. In addition to rules and processes, anything that can be stored as a version in the BRMS repository is considered an asset. This includes rules, packages, business processes, decision tables, fact models, and domain-specific languages. The repository allows you to organize rules, control versions, and apply security to control access to assets. Oracle s lack of a business rules repository has several drawbacks. First, in development environments, developers rely on source code control systems to manage versions of dictionaries. In production, rule dictionaries are stored in the Oracle Metadata Service (MDS) and can be versioned if the MDS is database-backed. However, developers can t leverage MDS versioning for development purposes. 18 The next issue is rule availability. Developers also must be aware of existing rules when developing to avoid duplication and conflicts. It can be challenging for Oracle developers to find all existing rules available for modification and re-use. There is no central repository for Oracle developers to find business rule assets in. Concurrency is another Oracle business rules issue. Only one developer at a time can work with a business rule dictionary. As the number of rules contained in a given dictionary increases, it gets harder for concurrent rule development to take place. Developers using JBoss Enterprise BRMS are not constrained by concurrency. Developers can edit any rule assets they have repository access to. JBoss Enterprise BRMS even includes tools to help developers manage conflicts that might arise when multiple developers change a rule at once. Rule access is the final Oracle business rule repository drawback to highlight. With Oracle business rules, since there is no central repository that can control and enforce security, any developer who can access a rule dictionary has full access to the assets in that dictionary. 19 JBoss Enterprise BRMS has multiple levels of repository security, allowing you to control who has access and what type of repository-managed assets they can access. Authoring Oracle business rules always starts with the JDeveloper integrated development environment. Rule dictionaries created in JDeveloper are deployed to the server, where some business rule editing can be performed using the Oracle SOA Composer. The Oracle SOA Composer is a web-based application--a less complex environment than JDeveloper but complex enough that the average business user may have difficulty understanding it without training. The authoring environment for a business rules management system must allow technical resources and business users to collaborate without corrupting each others work. JBoss Enterprise BRMS allows business users to participate in rules development using a web-based application and features like interactive guided rules, domain-specific language for rules, rule templates, and decision tables. JBoss Enterprise BRMS users working in the web-based application have full rule life cycle editing capabilities that are not matched by Oracle s SOA Composer. Oracle SOA Composer has many editing capabilities that are in JDeveloper, but not all. For example, you cannot create any decision function, rename an existing decision function, or add or delete any input or output. 20 You also cannot create or delete rulesets using Oracle SOA Composer. 21 Changes that you make using Oracle SOA Composer are not automatically synchronized with developers using JDeveloper. You must manually export dictionaries from the runtime that are then consumed by JDeveloper. JBoss Enterprise BRMS developers working with the web-based application and JBoss Developer Studio interact directly with the governance repository. JBoss Developer Studio developers have advanced asset life cycle capabilities permitting them to add, update, commit, compare with version, switch to version, show history, and delete resources directly. This simplifies developer activities and avoids the potential synchronization errors that are still possible with Oracle business rules. 5

6 22 See chapter one, Oracle Fusion Middleware Getting Started Guide for Oracle Complex Event Processing11g Release 1 ( ) guide - E23943_01/doc.1111/e14476/overview.htm#g Another piece of JBoss Enterprise BRMS functionality that Oracle business rules lacks is domain-specific languages. A domain-specific language, or DSL, is a rule language that is dedicated to the problem domain. This can greatly simplify working with rules, especially for business users. For example, Table C shows a DSL rule that illustrates the type of simplification possible. DSLs are also used in the guided editor, where they help simplify the assembly of rules. Oracle business rules lack DSL capabilities, forcing business users to work at the same technical level as developers. Table c There is a person with name of Kitty ==> Person(name= Kitty ) Person is at least 42 years old and lives in Atlanta ==> Person(age >= 42, location= Atlanta ) Log boo ==> System.out.println( boo ); There is a person with name of Bob and Person is at least 30 years old and lives in Utah ==> Person(name= Bob ) and Person(age >= 30, location= Utah ) There are many differences between JBoss Enterprise BRMS and Oracle business rules. The JBoss Enterprise BRMS features presented here are only a sample of the differences with Oracle business rules. The business rules features and governance capabilities of JBoss Enterprise BRMS offer a clear advantage over Oracle business rules. Complex event management The complex event processing (CEP) component in JBoss Enterprise BRMS is derived from the JBoss Drools Fusion community project. The component is implemented by moving away from the narrow modeling perspective that sees only rules, processes, or events as the main modeling concept. JBoss Enterprise BRMS treats all of these as primary concepts. This allows them to leverage each others strengths to effectively achieve the flexibility and power of behavioral modeling. Although this paper compares the CEP component as an independent module, it is important to realize that it is completely integrated with the rest of the BRMS platform. Enabling CEP adds the following features: Understands and handles events as first-class citizens of the platform Selects a set of interesting events in a cloud or stream of events Detects the relevant relationships (patterns) among these events Takes appropriate actions based on the patterns detected Oracle CEP takes a different approach with separate event and rule development environments, along with separate CEP and business rules engines. 22 As a result, the logic associated with processing and analyzing complex event data is separate from business rule processing. This is completely different from JBoss Enterprise BRMS where CEP and business rules work together. The Red Hat approach allows you to mix rules with events in a single declaration. For example, a rule could be written that states, If the average temperature reading for the last ten minutes goes above a certain point, sound the alarm. (Table D) Using this approach, events are used within business rules to allow the author to work within a single context. Developing with Oracle CEP is much more complex. An Oracle CEP application typically includes the following main component types: adapters, channels, beans, and event beans. Adapters are used to consume and publish data streams. They are connected channels that queue data 6

7 22 See chapter one, Oracle Fusion Middleware Getting Started Guide for Oracle Complex Event Processing11g Release 1 ( ) guide - E23943_01/doc.1111/e14476/overview.htm#g Oracle EPL is superseded by Oracle Continuous Query Language (Oracle CQL). See Preface of Oracle Fusion Middleware EPL Language Reference for Oracle Complex Event Processing 11g Release 1 ( ) - E23943_01/apirefs.1111/e14304/ preface.htm#sthref2 streams that processors use to execute logic and publish results. The adapters available to Oracle CEP applications are not the same as those used by SOA Suite. The Oracle CEP execution platform is different and discussed in more detail later in this paper. Implementing Oracle CEP requires you to use Oracle Continuous Query Language (Oracle CQL). Oracle CQL is a query language based on SQL with added constructs that support streaming data. 23 The structure and syntax of Oracle CQL is different from Oracle business rules, which are authored using a syntax closer to Java than SQL. Oracle business rules and CEP developers must build different skill sets instead of learning one shared environment like users of JBoss Table d Enterprise BRMS. Oracle rule Sound the alarm in case temperature rises above threshold developers also must when coordinate their efforts TemperatureThreshold( $max : max ) to make sure that CEP Number( doublevalue > $max ) from accumulate( detects events to process SensorReading( $temp : temperature ) over window:time( 10m ), and that the right rules average( $temp ) ) get evaluated. This effort then is not required in JBoss // sound the alarm Enterprise BRMS, where end complex event and business rules are developed in one place and then executed in tandem when deployed. Oracle CQL is based on SQL. Developers creating complex event logic must think from the perspective of pulling data from event streams. This is analogous to querying a database with a CQL example, as shown in Table E. In the example, maximum and average temperature data is calculated from a data stream with a sliding 10-minute window. Once completed, the processor component publishes the data (not shown) to a bean that performs an action. The action could call a rule deployed in an Oracle business rule dictionary. This approach is radically different from JBoss Enterprise BRMS, where data is fed to the combination of business rules and complex events. For temporal complex events, JBoss Enterprise BRMS automatically takes care of buffering data as needed. Another challenge for Oracle developers is the different tools that are used for Oracle CEP and Oracle Business rules. Oracle CEP development is performed using an Eclipse-based development environment. Development for other components in the Oracle SOA and BPM suite, including business rules, is performed using the Oracle JDeveloper product. Once you have detected an event pattern of interest, the next step is to store and manipulate data, as well as perform a task in response to the event. Using Oracle CEP, you define beans and event beans that consume output streams and take action on that data (such as calling the Table e <processor> <name>cqlprocessor</name> <rules> <query id= Temps ><![CDATA[ select max(temperature), avg(temperature) from lastevents [ range 10 minutes] ]]></query>... </rules> </processor> 7

8 24 Compare list of Oracle CEP adapters in section of Oracle Fusion Middleware Developer s Guide for Oracle Complex Event Processing 11g Release 1 ( ) for Eclipse to tab labeled Adapter Certification in System Requirements and Supported Platforms for Oracle Fusion Middleware 11gR1 spreadsheet accessed from Oracle Fusion Middleware Supported System Configurations - oracle.com/technetwork/middleware/ias/downloads/fusion-certification html Oracle business rules engine). External communications from Oracle CEP can use the built-in HTTP, JMS, and file-based capabilities. To communicate with an external system using a different method, you would need to create a custom adapter that can operate within the Oracle CEP OSGi environment. Remember that the adapters available to Oracle CEP applications are not the same as those used by SOA Suite. 24 By comparison, JBoss Enterprise BRMS runs on the JBoss Enterprise Application platform. This allows you to connect to external systems using any of the predefined technology connectors such as , file system, FTP, HTTP, JDBC, JMS, and SOAP. You can also use custom and third-party adapters. Regardless of how you communicate, you can do so using plain old java objects (POJO) with methods you define. Further, since JBoss Enterprise BRMS is running JBoss Enterprise Application platform, you can have the option to re-use code already deployed. Deployment is another area of inconsistency between Oracle CEP and Oracle Business rules. Oracle CEP projects get built and deployed as a single OSGi bundle. This needs to be done since Oracle CEP engine runs as a Java application container based on Equinox OSGi. This is different from the Oracle business rules engine, which runs as a JEE application on the WebLogic application server. In fact, all components of Oracle BPM and SOA suite excluding CEP run as JEE applications. Oracle CEP packages are also deployed and manged differently than other Oracle BPM and SOA Suite components. This leads to a disparate mix of Oracle technologies that developers and administrators must account for. This problem is not present with JBoss Enterprise BRMS, where all components are developed using the same development tool and deployed to run on the JBoss Enterprise Application Platform. Conclusion IInnovate more and spend less with a JBoss Enterprise BRMS subscription. Contact your Red Hat sales professional for more information. This competitive brief has presented a mix of similarities and differences between JBoss Enterprise BRMS and the combined capabilities of Oracle WebLogic Suite, Oracle SOA Suite, and Oracle BPM Suite software. While both Oracle and Red Hat offer BPM, CEP, and business rules, Red Hat provides all three in one commercial offering and expands business rules capabilities to provide a comprehensive business rules management system. Red Hat commercially offers the full functionality of JBoss Enterprise BRMS without any associated software license fees. Red Hat customers simply purchase subscriptions for the Red Hat technologies they use. JBoss Enterprise BRMS is available in 16- and 64-core entitlement increments, purchased annually or as a discounted 3-year subscription. Regardless of the subscription you choose, JBoss Enterprise BRMS platform offers many of the functional capabilities found in Oracle WebLogic Suite, Oracle SOA Suite, and Oracle BPM Suite for significantly lower acquisition costs. The cost savings you realize by choosing Red Hat can start more projects, deploy technology more pervasively within the enterprise, and apply more of your budget towards innovation. SALES AND INQUIRIES NORTH AMERICA REDHAT1 EUROPE, MIDDLE EAST AND AFRICA europe@redhat.com ASIA PACIFIC apac@redhat.com LATIN AMERICA latammktg@redhat.com # _v4_0213 Copyright 2013 Red Hat, Inc. Red Hat, Red Hat Enterprise Linux, the Shadowman logo, and JBoss are trademarks of Red Hat, Inc., registered in the U.S. and other countries. Linux is the registered trademark of Linus Torvalds in the U.S. and other countries. 8