Madison selects Oracle for new Web infrastructure and joins CampusEAI consortium

After an extensive search for technologies that will shape the future JMU Web, the university has acquired software from Oracle Corp. and joined CampusEAI, a non-profit consortium of more than 100 educational institutions using the Oracle products.

In September 2004, JMU launched an effort to bring next-generation publishing and presentation tools to its Web site. A vision document, was created to guide the process and, in November, the university issued a request for proposals. The CampusEAI/Oracle decision was reached after an intensive evaluation process that included on-site vendor presentations to JMU faculty, staff, and students.

"Having this two-tiered relationship puts JMU in a strong position," said Dale Hulvey, assistant vice president for information technology. "On one hand we take advantage of the stability and reliability of Oracle, an industry leader, and on the other, we can benefit by working with other leading universities to develop and share community-source software that will help us integrate Oracle Portal with other systems on our campus."

Oracle is the world's leading supplier of software for information management, and the world's second largest independent software company. The California-based company's recent acquisition of PeopleSoft -- JMU's vendor for its Enterprise Resource Planning systems (student administration, finance, human resources) -- should aid system integration in the future, Hulvey said.

Led by more than 100 primary, secondary, and postsecondary education institutions in the United States, United Kingdom, Canada and Australia, the CampusEAI Consortium is a Cleveland-based, non-profit organization dedicated to facilitating the development and exchange of community-source software and digital content. The consortium includes more than 70 higher education members, including Case Western Reserve University, Carnegie Mellon University, Ohio State University, the University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill, Virginia Commonwealth University and Washington State University.

Several committees and work teams have been established to guide the full implementation of the new infrastructure, which will likely require three to five years. Visit the project Web site for team information and updates on the project.