have a post on portlets sitting in my drafts folder for over two weeks now - I need a couple of screenshots, so I hope to post it in the next day or

There are two articles in Intelligent Enterprise (link to site) by Ventana Research (link to VentanaResearch web site), one labelled a Ventana QuickTake™, and the other VentanaMonitor™, on Oracle's BI suite and strategy.

The first one, dated May 4 2006, (link to article) "BI Is Not Middleware", highlights, very briefly, a packaging issue that confronts Oracle. I.e., whether to position BI as part of the Fusion middleware suite, or whether to package and position it independently. Given the many surveys that indicate that spending on BI solutions is the highest priority for many companies, the argument seems to be in favor of packaging BI independently...

The second one, dated May 8 2006, (link to article), "Oracle Re-Enters BI Market Seeking Leadership Position", briefly describes Oracle's BI announcement in March (link to previous blog post) and the product suite, and then follows with an assessment of the challenges facing Oracle in establishing itself as a leading BI tools vendor. The tone of the article is neutral, and the last paragraph sums up the situation:
"Oracle is an embryonic stage in its adoption of BI as a strategic component of the overall business. Nonetheless, this could become a significant element of its business and deliver sophisticated technology for enabling companies to manage their performance."

And, finally, on a slightly different note, Mark Rittman (link to blog) has posted a detailed introduction to the Enterprise Edition of Oracle Business Intelligence (see post, "An Guide to OracleBI Suite Enterprise Edition").

Correction: I hit the wrong combination of keystrokes and the post published prematurely. Completed a sentence that had been left dangling.