• - Related content
• - Integration technology
• - End-user productivity
• - Supported platforms

The biggest change is in supported platforms. While earlier versions of PeopleTools had run on 32-bit machines, PeopleTools 8.50 will run only on 64-bit machines.

To give you a quick comparison of 32-bit vs. 64-bit processing:

• - 32-bit systems can reference 2 to the power of 32 addresses, or 4 GB of RAM
• - 64-bit systems can reference 2 to the power of 64 addresses, or approximately 17.2 billion GB, 16.8 million terabytes, or 16 exabytes of RAM

In essence, the 64-bit computers will be processing about ten billion times more information than their now nearly-insignificant 32-bit cousins.

What does this mean to a business? Several requirements go along with PeopleTools 8.50:

• - New 64-bit servers
• - New operating systems
• - New 64-bit support software
• - New installations or upgrades
• - Integration and support for the new equipment

Here are the answers to a couple of very obvious FAQs:

• - No, you cannot run a 64-bit emulation on a 32-bit machine.
• - Yes, you can run a 32-bit emulation on a 64-bit machine, but it’s like making an F-15 Eagle travel at the same speed as a tricycle, just to be in a tricycle race.

The majority of businesses run on 32-bit machines, and these have proven adequate, given the quantities of commercial data most organizations use (an exception would be statistical market analysis firms), and the PeopleSoft product suite does run on the 32-bit supported PeopleTools 8.49. The key for business owners considering an upgrade will be how much longer PeopleTools 8.49 will be supported.

During these tough economic times, few organizations will be willing to justify any significant additional cost without a serious look at all of the benefits – not just the speed.

This past September, Oracle presented useful PeopleSoft subject matter at the OpenWorld 2008 conference in San Francisco. Much of this information could impact, or result in further refinement to, existing roadmap documents. The focus of my next few blog entries is to highlight some of the topics relevant to PeopleSoft strategic planning activities.

At the top of my list is PeopleTools 8.50, an update that could impact your 2009 IT plans. With the hype (and some confusion) surrounding the future Fusion product, it was refreshing to see a live demonstration of an enhanced PeopleTools product that brings the user interface more in line with today’s Web 2.0 standards. Oracle expects this release sometime in 2009, and given the fairly extensive demo at OpenWorld, the GA estimate appears accurate. I would recommend reviewing the presentation (and bookmarking the Oracle PeopleTools blog if you haven’t already) to better understand some of the updated capabilities with Tools 8.50.

Some features outlined in the presentation to keep in mind:

• Backward compatible: The 8.5 Tools release is backward compatible to any application running at least 8.4x. If you’re running Financials 8.9 on Tools 8.47 you can upgrade directly to 8.5. Some shops may see a better ROI by upgrading the Tools and leaving the application at the current level.

• Enriched navigation enhancements available with just the Tools upgrade:
    • Partial Page Refresh
    • Modal Lookup Prompts & Error Messages
    • New Menu, Favorites, Recent Visits
    • Homepage Pagelet Drag/Drop
    • Independent Pagelet Refresh
    • Type Ahead/Auto-Complete
    • Modal Zoom Grid for existing grids

• Connected Query – allows the developer to join PS Queries into parent-child relationships to further increase the tool’s ability as a reporting source. There will also be additional enhancements with Web services to run PS Query data to XML publisher or a third-party application.

The presentation does include new features that are dependent on additional product licensing. For example, the presentation shows a new feature that can pull business intelligence (BI) content directly into a page, based on the page’s current context. While the feature looks both sharp and useful, it requires a separate BI tool to generate the required data. Additionally, some of the features are dependent on an upgrade to 9.1 (GA estimate 2010). When reviewing these updated capabilities, make sure you differentiate what is delivered with the Tools upgrade by itself, as well as what’s available with the 9.1 application upgrade included. Regardless, the PeopleTools 8.5 release, scheduled for release in 2009, does offer compelling updates that should be analyzed against existing roadmap strategies.