There has been much interest in Hyperion since the Oracle acquisition and many partners have been working to install Hyperion systems. Oracle has a program that can make it easier to learn the products. The program is called the Oracle Business Intelligence Challenge to Go program or, shortened BIC2G.
Oracle recently released virtual machine images to help people get started. The images were put together with the help of longtime Oracle Partner Dan Vlamis at Vlamis Software Solutions. I spoke with Dan about the program and he told me about one of the most difficult parts of creating the images on Windows. Apparently, Microsoft has a pretty good legal department so making sure the images had a proper Windows license took some effort. As a result, there are two different images types available.
First, you can get an image, with Oracle EPM preinstalled, that runs on Microsoft Virtual Server and has a 30-day Windows demo license. That means the image works for 30 days after you first log on, then it expires. You can reuse the 'base' image any number of times but each copy you fire up expires after the same 30 days. We are planning to use this image for the ODTUG Kaleidoscope hands-on labs.
Alternatively, you can get a VMWare image, again with Oracle EPM preinstalled, that has an OEM copy of Windows 2003 Server and does not expire. I believe you can only use this image *once*.
There is a small cost associated with the program but that basically covers costs most of which are Microsoft licensing fees. You can get more information on the BIC2G program at http://bic2g.oracle.com/ or at http://www.vlamis.com/blog.php/?p=87.
I am encouraging Oracle to make this image available to customers as well; perhaps it will be available in the future.
