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Tag: Oracle

  • Oracle Releases Massive April 2022 Critical Patch Update

    Oracle Releases Massive April 2022 Critical Patch Update

    Oracle has released a major April 2022 Critical Patch Update, fixing a whopping 520 issues.

    Oracle regularly releases updates to its software and service. This update, however, is a large one, containing hundreds of fixes. The update also slightly changes the quarterly release schedule, making it easier to plan for future updates

    “With this Critical Patch Update release, Oracle is making a small adjustment to the Critical Patch Update release schedule,” Eric Maurise, Vice President of Security Assurance, wrote in a blog post. “Critical Patch Updates will no longer be released on the Tuesday closest to the 17th of the month of January, April, July, and October, but they will be released on the third Tuesday of January, April, July, and October. This minor adjustment will not affect the frequency of Critical Patch Update releases (still 4 times a year), but essentially, makes it easier to set calendar reminders and determine the date of future Critical Patch Update releases.”

  • Pentagon Pushes Cloud Contract Award to December

    Pentagon Pushes Cloud Contract Award to December

    The Pentagon has pushed back the Joint Warfighting Cloud Capability (JWCC) contract award to December, adding to the saga of its cloud transition.

    The Pentagon initially awarded the $10 billion JEDI cloud contract to Microsoft, surprising industry experts who saw AWS as the front-runner. AWS immediately sued and tied up the contract award in court so long that the Pentagon finally canceled it and started over, replacing JEDI with JWCC.

    According to Reuters, the process to award a new contract is taking longer than expected, with the time-frame for an award pushed back to December, instead of April.

    “This is going to take us a little bit longer than we thought,” Pentagon Chief Information Officer John Sherman said.

    The same major players are being considered, including Microsoft, AWS, Oracle, and Google. Unlike JEDI, which was awarded to a single company, JWCC will likely be awarded to multiple companies, possibly all four. With a total of roughly $9 billion on the line, even a four-way split would still be a substantial contract for the cloud providers.

  • Microsoft Azure Usage Pulls Ahead of AWS

    Microsoft Azure Usage Pulls Ahead of AWS

    Microsoft continues to gain ground in the cloud market, even pulling ahead of leader AWS in some usage scnarios.

    AWS and Azure are the top two cloud platforms, with Google Cloud coming in third. Despite AWS still being the market leader, Flexera’s 2022 State of the Cloud Report shows Microsoft is making some impressive headway.

    According to the report, Azure surpassed AWS in the enterprise, with 80% of enterprises using it, as opposed to 77% using AWS. Similarly, 71% of enterprises are running at least 51 Azure virtual machines (VMs), as opposed to 69% for AWS.

    Microsoft is also slightly edging out AWS on spending among its installed base, with 53% of enterprise Azure users spending at least $1.2 million annually, as opposed to 52% of AWS users.

    Year-over-year adoptions rates also help gauge the relative strength of each platform in the market, with Microsoft showing the largest increase over 2021. Azure’s adoption rate in 2022 is 77% across all organizations, up from 73% in 2021. In contrast, AWS’ adoption rate dropped a point, from 77 to 76%. Google Cloud increased by one point, from 47 to 48%. Oracle dropped from 29 to 28%. IBM held steady at 24%, as did Alibaba Cloud at 12%,

    Microsoft has also made headway against VMware, with the Azure Stack being used in 37% of private clouds, compared to VMware’s 31%.

    Flexera’s report is good news for Microsoft as the Redmond giant clearly has significant momentum in the cloud market, putting pressure on its competitors, both above and below it.

  • Mergers and Acquisitions Set New Record in 2021, Led by Cloud Companies

    Mergers and Acquisitions Set New Record in 2021, Led by Cloud Companies

    Mergers and acquisitions (M&A) will set a new record in 2021, thanks in no small part to Oracle, Microsoft, and Amazon.

    According to The Street, the previous record for M&A was set in 2018, coming in at $1.55 trillion. Thanks to massive acquisitions this year, 2021 is set to blow past that, reaching $2.4 trillion.

    Cloud companies helped contribute a large portion of that total. 

    Amazon agreed to purchase MGM Studios for $8.45 billion in May. The deal is seen as a way for Amazon to beef up its Prime Video platform even more, enabling it to better compete with Netflix, Hulu, and others.

    Microsoft announced in April that it was purchasing Nuance, its second-largest acquisition. Nuance specializes in conversational AI for the healthcare market, an increasingly important industry for cloud providers.

    The latest major cloud acquisition was Oracle’s announced plans to acquire medical records giant Cerner for a whopping $28 billion, the largest acquisition in its history.

    Regulators have become increasingly wary of consolidation in the tech industry, especially with Big Tech buying up rivals. Despite the additional scrutiny, it doesn’t seem to have hurt the M&A market in 2021.

  • Oracle In Talks to Buy Medical Records Giant Cerner

    Oracle In Talks to Buy Medical Records Giant Cerner

    Oracle is in talks to buy medical records giant Cerner, in a move that puts it on a collision course with its larger rivals.

    Oracle has been making headway in the cloud market, but still lags behind the top three: AWS, Microsoft, and Google Cloud. Cloud companies of all sizes are working to expand their markets, and the medical industry is a prime target. Microsoft acquired healthcare AI firm Nuance, and Google made a bid for the healthcare market with its Project Nightingale, before ultimately disbanding the effort.

    Oracle appears to be making its own bid for the healthcare market, with talks to purchase Cerner Corp, a leading electronic-medical-records company. According to The Wall Street Journal, the deal could be worth as much as $30 billion, which would make it the largest acquisition in Oracle’s history.

    According to WSJ’s sources, the deal could be finalized soon. If it goes through, it could help Oracle make significant headway in the cloud market, and add to the company’s reputation for offering a full end-to-end solution.

  • Oracle Opens Cloud Regions in Italy and Sweden

    Oracle Opens Cloud Regions in Italy and Sweden

    Oracle is continuing its cloud expansion, opening its first cloud regions in Italy and Sweden.

    Oracle has been making major headway in the cloud market, chipping away at its bigger rivals, AWS, Microsoft, and Google Cloud. Ever the salesmen, co-founder Larry Ellison has recently taken a jab at AWS over its outages, highlighting Oracle’s reputation for rock-solid stability.

    Beyond stability, however, a company’s geographic coverage is an important factor in being able to effectively compete. The closer a company’s servers are to its customers, the better the performance it can offer.

    To that end, the company has opened cloud regions in Italy, as well as Sweden.

    “It is important that we offer organizations access to cloud infrastructure that is located in Italy to manage their most critical data and applications. We currently see significant growth in our cloud business that reflects our customers’ desire to rapidly digitize their operations so they can better serve their customers,” said Alessandro Ippolito, vice president and country general manager, Oracle Italy. “The Milan region also supports the Italian government’s ‘Piano Nazionale di Ripresa e Resilienza’ (National Plan of Recovery and Resilience) initiative, which aims to promote the economic recovery of the country through digital modernization. Having a cloud region on Italian soil will help facilitate the adoption of Oracle Cloud services by government entities and Italy’s highly regulated industries.”

    “It is important that we offer Nordic organizations access to cloud infrastructure locally to help manage their most critical data and applications,” said Pelle Ewald, country manager, Oracle Sweden. “We currently see significant growth in our cloud business that reflects our customers’ desire to rapidly scale their digital operations in an effort to continue to best serve their consumers now and in the future.”

  • Larry Ellison Says Oracle’s Cloud ERP Will Be “A Lot Bigger” Than $20 Billion

    Larry Ellison Says Oracle’s Cloud ERP Will Be “A Lot Bigger” Than $20 Billion

    Larry Ellison has predicted his company’s cloud ERP business will grow faster than projected, being “a lot bigger” than $20 billion in five years.

    Oracle’s cloud ERP business has been gaining traction, building on the company’s wide portfolio of products and services. The company recently released its quarterly results Thursday, handily beating analysts’ expectations, thanks in no small part to the performance of its cloud business.

    Speaking to investors following the repot, co-founder Larry Ellison said he believes Oracle’s cloud ERP business will be worth far more than current projections and growth rate would indicate, according to ZDNet.

    “I think it’s going to be a lot bigger than that,” Ellison said. Ellison then went on say that the company’s plans revolved around partnerships with other companies, especially in the financial services and and logistics industries, partnerships that will help it accelerate its growth beyond the $20 billion mark.

    Oracle has increasingly been making waves in the cloud industry, poaching major customers from competitors and, most recently, pointing out the reliability of its platform compared to market leading AWS.

    If Ellison’s predictions are correct, Oracle could be poised to make serious headway against the top three cloud companies.

  • Larry Ellison Touts Oracle Cloud’s Reliability in Wake of AWS Outage

    Larry Ellison Touts Oracle Cloud’s Reliability in Wake of AWS Outage

    Larry Ellison isn’t passing up an opportunity to take a swipe at AWS, sharing a note from a telecommunications customer touting Oracle Cloud’s reliability.

    AWS suffered a major outage earlier this week, impacting some of the biggest sites on the web. Coinbase, Disney+, McDonald’s and Amazon’s own Alexa service were just a few of the brands affected.

    Ellison is all too happy to point out Oracle’s reputation for reliability, sharing a note from a telecommunications client at the end of the company’s quarterly earnings call, according to CNBC.

    “Let me close with a note that I’m going to paraphrase from a very large telecommunications company who uses our cloud and all the other three North American clouds — Google, Amazon and Microsoft,” Ellison said. “And the note basically said the one thing we’ve noticed about Oracle, Oracle’s cloud, is that it never ever goes down. We can’t say that about any of the other clouds. We think this is a critical differentiator.”

    Despite not being in the top three cloud providers, Oracle has consistently won praise for offering a full turnkey solution, providing everything from cloud infrastructure to database-driven services. If the company can make the case for better reliability than the top three, it may be able to continue chipping away at their market share.

  • Tesla Moving Its Headquarters to Texas

    Tesla Moving Its Headquarters to Texas

    Another major company is moving its headquarters out of California, as Tesla is moving its headquarters to Texas.

    California has been losing companies at a record pace. Oracle, HPE and a slew of smaller companies have been leaving, or moving their headquarters out of the state. In fact, 2021 is set to double the rate of defections over 2020.

    Tesla is now poised to follow suit, with CEO Elon Musk announcing the company would move headquarters to Texas at its shareholder meeting.

    “I’m excited to announce we are moving our headquarters to Austin, Texas,” Musk said, according to The Washington Post. “Just to be clear, though, we will be continuing to expand our activities in California. This is not a matter of Tesla leaving California.”

    Cost of housing was a major factor for the move.

    “It’s tough for people to afford houses and a lot of people have to come in from far away,” Musk said. “There’s a limit to how big you can scale in the Bay Area.”

  • Thomas Kurian Remaking Google Cloud Leadership to Be More Competitive

    Thomas Kurian Remaking Google Cloud Leadership to Be More Competitive

    Google Cloud is in third place in the cloud industry, but CEO Thomas Kurian is remaking its leadership in a bid to be more competitive.

    Kurian came to the top spot at Google via Oracle, and made no secret of his desire to move Google Cloud into second place within five years. Despite coming up on three years at Google, the company is still firmly in third place.

    According to Business Insider, much of the old guard has been leaving the cloud unit in favor of leadership that is loyal to Kurian, leadership he’s brought in from rivals Microsoft, Oracle and SAP. Urs Hölzle and Eyal Manor are two high-profile Google Cloud execs that have left the cloud unit for other roles within Google.

    “As Google Cloud grows, we regularly evaluate the best organizational structure to better scale our business and provide a world-class experience for our customers,” a Google Cloud spokesperson told Insider.

    Experts believe Kurian and Google are trying to remake the company’s image in an effort to attract customers and prove Google Cloud is a serious contender.

    “They’re shaking out some of the older people,” Dan Morgan, senior portfolio manager at Synovus told Insider. “It’s a message that they’re trying to change and change the direction of the ship so they’re perceived more differently in the marketplace and can become profitable.”

    Morgan’s assessment goes hand-in-hand with other changes Google’s cloud unit has made to buff its image, including rolling out Google Enterprise APIs. Google has a well-established reputation for killing off projects, regardless of how beloved they might be, a reputation that doesn’t inspire confidence in companies looking to base their entire business around the company’s cloud platform. Enterprise APIs were introduced as a way of assuring customers they could rely on Google Cloud, and the features it offers, long-term.

    With only a couple of years left in his five-year goal, it remains to be seen if Kurian can drive Google Cloud into second place.

  • Oracle Scores Deal to Help Telefónica Spain Migrate to the Cloud

    Oracle Scores Deal to Help Telefónica Spain Migrate to the Cloud

    Oracle has scored a big win, signing a multi-year deal with Telefónica Spain to help it accelerate its cloud adoption.

    Oracle has been focusing its efforts on its cloud business, working to gain share in a market dominated by AWS, Microsoft and Google. The company has some advantages working in its favor, including its ability to offer a full end-to-end solution.

    The company has secured a multi-year contract with Telefónica Spain that will see the latter migrate to Oracle Exadata Cloud@Customer, an on-premise solution. Using an on-premise solution ensures compliance with the EU’s data laws.

    “Digitalization and connectivity are reconfiguring the way we work and live, and Telefónica is transforming its business to support our customers in this new world. As we take advantage of these new opportunities, we need to consolidate and simplify our technological infrastructure to make ourselves more agile and adaptable, and this is where our collaboration with Oracle comes in,” says Fidel Jesús Fernández, director of Technologies and TI Transformation at Telefónica Spain. “Oracle Cloud@Customer gives us the flexibility we need to build a robust and scalable cloud platform in our own data centers, which is scalable and elastic to meet the changing needs of our business.”

    “Telecommunications companies are having to reinvent their business models as they navigate changing customer expectations, capture new markets and become both service providers and enablers. Telefónica is one of the companies that is at the forefront of this change, and we are delighted to provide the power and flexibility of Oracle Cloud@Customer to support Telefónica de España and its partners in providing the next generation of digital services to consumers and companies, “says Enrique Diaz Galán, KAD for Telefónica at Oracle.

  • Google, Microsoft and Oracle Had the Most Vulnerabilities in Early 2021

    Google, Microsoft and Oracle Had the Most Vulnerabilities in Early 2021

    AtlasVPN released a new report detailing the state of cybersecurity vulnerabilities in early 2021, and it’s bad news for Google, Microsoft and Oracle.

    The first half of 2021 has seen some of the biggest cybersecurity breaches in history. Colonial Pipeline, JBS Foods and Kaseya were victims of devastating ransomware attacks. Microsoft has warnedAzure users of severe security issues in its cloud platform, Apple has released iOS updates to address an exploit used by NSO Group to hack journalists’ iPhones and the Solar Winds attack compromised both government and commercial organizations.

    According to AtlasVPN, however, Google takes the top place for the most vulnerabilities in the first half of 2021, coming it at 547. Microsoft came in second place at 432, while Oracle rounded out the top three with 316. Interestingly, the other seven entries in the top 10 accounted for 643 vulnerabilities in total, less than any two of the top three and only slightly more than Google alone.

    It’s not particularly surprising that Google and Microsoft accounted for the top two spots, as an exploit against their systems provide hackers the widest possible attack vector.

    Exploiting vulnerabilities in Google or Microsoft products allow cybercriminals to probe millions of systems. While the tech giants are doing a fair job of keeping up with exploits and constantly update their software, people and organizations need to follow suit and keep up with the updates to prevent further exploitation.

  • Oracle Pursues Defunct JEDI Contract Review

    Oracle Pursues Defunct JEDI Contract Review

    ‘Don’t beat a dead horse’ doesn’t seem to be a phrase Oracle is familiar with, as the company continues to pursue its JEDI contract case.

    The Pentagon’s JEDI (Joint Enterprise Defense Infrastructure) was designed to help the Department of Defense (DoD) modernize its infrastructure using commercial cloud providers. AWS, Microsoft, IBM and Oracle were the top vendors vying for the project.

    Early on, IBM and Oracle were both eliminated. Despite AWS being the favorite, the DoD ultimately awarded the contract to Microsoft. AWS immediately sued, claiming Microsoft was awarded the contract unfairly. After a protracted legal battle, with no end in sight, the DoD ultimately withdrew Microsoft’s win and abandoned the contract.

    Despite that eventuality, and despite Oracle’s early elimination for not meeting the requirements, the company seems intent on continuing its challenge to the DoD’s initial ruling.

    Law Street Media reports that Oracle is claiming the DoD’s alleged misconduct doesn’t just end because the contract was cancelled, and could reasonably be expected to occur again with future contracts.

    Ironically, one of Oracle’s main contentions with the initial contract terms was the DoD awarding the JEDI contract to a single vendor instead of adopting a multi-vendor approach. When the DoD abandoned JEDI, it switched gears and said it will tap multiple vendors for its next attempt, the Joint Warfighter Cloud Capability (JWCC) contract. In spite of the DoD changing its approach, Oracle is still not satisfied.

    “Cases do not become moot simply because a defendant issues a press release claiming to have ceased its misconduct,” Oracle claims in a court filing.

    Again…dead horse.

  • Tennessee Makes $65 Million Play to Attract Oracle

    Tennessee Makes $65 Million Play to Attract Oracle

    Tennessee has approved $65 million in incentives for Oracle, as the company prepares to make a $1 billion investment in the state.

    Oracle is planning on opening an office in Nashville, and has already purchased 60 acres for $254 million. The company also offered an upfront investment of $175 million toward public infrastructure projects, such as environmental cleanup, a pedestrian bridge across the Cumberland River, a riverfront park and a sewer pump station, according to the Chattanooga Times Free Press.

    Most significantly, Oracle plans on bringing 8,500 jobs to the state, with an average pay of $110,000.

    A state panel has now voted to grant Oracle $65 million in incentives to sweeten the deal. Half of the company’s estimated $18 million in annual property tax will go back to the company to reimburse its upfront investment, while the other half will go to the city.

  • Companies Fleeing California at Double the 2020 Rate

    Companies Fleeing California at Double the 2020 Rate

    California is in the midst of a “brain drain” as companies leave the state at double the rate in 2021 as 2020.

    There have already been a number of high-profile companies that have announced plans to move their headquarters away from California, including Oracle and HPE, both of which moved to Texas. Unfortunately for the Golden State, the pace of companies leaving is picking up.

    According Stanford’s Hoover Institution, there were 265 companies that moved their headquarters out of California from January 1, 2018 to June 30, 2021. The first half of 2021, however, accounted for 74 of those defections. The monthly averages for the first half of 2021 was greater than the monthly averages for the first half of 2018 and 2019. 2021 is also on course to double the number that left in 2020.

    The top destinations are Texas, Arizona and Nevada. The Hoover Institution attributes the migration to high real estate taxes, expanding civil liability and disproportionate legal costs of doing business. The COVID-19 pandemic has also opened the door for more remote work, making expensive Silicon Valley headquarters less important.

    Notably, the Hoover Institution’s data is not comprehensive, as many smaller companies move without the news coverage or public awareness that major tech companies bring.

  • Gartner Names Oracle a Magic Quadrant Leader for Third Successive Time

    Gartner Names Oracle a Magic Quadrant Leader for Third Successive Time

    Oracle has been named a leader in the 2021 Gartner Magic Quadrant for Cloud ERP for Product-Centric Enterprises for the third successive time.

    The Magic Quadrant in question evaluated 10 ERP providers to determine which one “reflects Gartner’s definition of ‘composable ERP’. This strategy delivers a core of composable applications and, as a service, software platforms that are highly configurable, interoperable, and flexible, in order to adapt to future modern technology.”

    More than 8,000 organizations around the world rely on Oracle Cloud ERP. The platform provides one of the most comprehensive finance and operations capabilities, and self-updates every 90 days to provide the latest features. This helps customers remain nimble and adapt to new challenges and opportunities.

    “We continue to see Oracle Cloud ERP set the standard and be both the driver and defining factor in our customer’s success in adapting to a dynamic business environment,” said Rondy Ng, senior vice president of applications development, Oracle. “Through it all, Oracle has remained laser focused on our customer-centric mission and continued to deliver the quarterly innovations our customers have come to expect. Gartner’s Leader positioning for Oracle Cloud ERP is an honor we share with our customers.”

  • Cloud Infrastructure Spending Hit $42 Billion in Q2

    Cloud Infrastructure Spending Hit $42 Billion in Q2

    The cloud infrastructure market continued its impressive gains, with spending hitting $42 billion in Q2, according to Synergy Research Group.

    Synergy’s latest data is good news for the industry, and provides a number of important revelations. According to the company, the top three cloud companies continue to be AWS, Microsoft and Google, with 33%, 20% and 10% of the market respectively. Alibaba, IBM, Salesforce, Tencent, Oracle and “Others” round out the industry.

    Interestingly, that means the top three companies account for 63% of money spent on cloud infrastructure.

    “This market continues to be a runaway success story for Amazon, Microsoft, Google and some other cloud providers. You would not normally expect to see growth rates actually increasing in such a huge and rapidly developing market, yet once again that is what our research has shown,” said John Dinsdale, a Chief Analyst at Synergy Research Group. “It must be said that this success is hard earned. Amazon, Microsoft and Google in aggregate are typically investing over $25 billion in capex per quarter, much of which is going towards building and equipping their fleet of over 340 hyperscale data centers. There remains a wealth of opportunity for smaller, more focused cloud providers, but it can be hard to look away from the eye-popping numbers coming out of the big three.”

    Synergy’s report is further evidence that, despite the accelerated cloud transition as a result of the pandemic, there appears to be plenty of room for further growth.

  • Oracle’s Cloud Unit Gears Up for ‘24×7’ Work in Fight for the Cloud

    Oracle’s Cloud Unit Gears Up for ‘24×7’ Work in Fight for the Cloud

    Oracle has told employees on various cloud projects to prepare for “24×7” work as the company fights for cloud market share.

    Oracle is currently behind the market leaders — AWS, Microsoft Azure and Google Cloud — in the cloud market. The company has had some major wins, however, as it offers a complete end-to-end solution.

    The company is now telling employees it will be redoubling its efforts, in a leaked memo seen by Business Insider. The memo emphasizes the need to focus on cloud projects and goals for the next few quarters, even if it means putting other projects on pause.

    “Other feature and development work is paused to assist in this effort,” the memo reads.

    “Region bootstrap, across regions, will need to happen on a 24×7 basis in order to hit our delivery dates. All teams will need to resource appropriately to accommodate this expectation,” the memo continued.

    Oracle is even willing to reallocate personal from other projects, if needed, to help it meet its goals.

    “This means, in some cases, temporarily reallocating personnel from other projects, teams, or orgs,” the memo added.

    The memo is one of the clearest signs yet of how seriously Oracle is taking the cloud market, and the lengths it will go to advance its position in the market.

  • Oracle Beats Guidance on Strong Cloud Performance

    Oracle Beats Guidance on Strong Cloud Performance

    Oracle reported its quarterly results, beating guidance as a result of strong cloud results.

    Oracle is currently fighting for market share in the cloud market, behind leaders AWS, Microsoft Azure and Google Cloud. Nonetheless, the company has been making solid progress, thanks to its being able to offer the full stack of database and cloud solutions.

    In its most recent quarter, the company’s revenue hit $11.2 billion, an increase of 8% year-over-year. Net income came in at $4 billion, or $1.37 per share, an increase of 29%.

    Cloud services and license support revenue came in at $7.4 billion, an increase of 8%. Meanwhile, cloud license and on-premise license revenue came in at $2.1 billion, an increase of 9%.

    “Our Q4 performance was absolutely outstanding with total revenue beating guidance by nearly $200 million, and non-GAAP earnings per share beating guidance by $0.24,” said Oracle CEO, Safra Catz. “Our multi-billion dollar Fusion and NetSuite cloud applications businesses saw dramatic increases in their already rapid revenue growth rates: Fusion ERP was up 30% in Q3 and up 46% in Q4, Fusion HCM was up 23% in Q3 and up 35% in Q4, NetSuite was up 24% in Q3 and up 26% in Q4. Oracle Fusion is the world’s biggest cloud ERP business; Oracle NetSuite is the world’s second biggest cloud ERP business. Revenue from our Gen2 Cloud Infrastructure business including Autonomous Database grew over 100% in Q4. The accelerating growth rates of both our applications and infrastructure cloud businesses this year drove earnings per share growth up to 21% in FY21. That is the fourth consecutive year of double-digit earnings per share growth at Oracle Corporation.”

    “The world’s two most popular databases are the Oracle Autonomous Database and Oracle MySQL,” said Oracle Chairman and CTO, Larry Ellison. “The Oracle Database once again delivered solid revenue growth in FY21. And while our Oracle Database business as measured by revenue currently dwarfs our MySQL database business—that is about to change because the latest version of Oracle MySQL has been upgraded to include a revolutionary new ultra-high-performance parallel processing query engine called HeatWave. Independent analysts have tested and confirmed that Oracle MySQL with HeatWave runs 10 to 100 times faster than Amazon’s version of MySQL called Aurora. This technological breakthrough is causing several of Amazon’s customers to start moving their Aurora workloads to Oracle MySQL. And industry analysts are telling us they are seeing a 10x increase in Oracle Cloud Infrastructure customer inquiries. Both the Oracle Autonomous Database and Oracle MySQL with HeatWave technology have captured the technology high-ground in the cloud database business—and that bodes well for the future of the Oracle Cloud.”

  • TikTok and WeChat In the Clear as Biden Reverses Trump’s Ban Attempts

    TikTok and WeChat In the Clear as Biden Reverses Trump’s Ban Attempts

    TikTok and WeChat’s battle to avoid being sold is finally over, as President Biden has signed an executive order undoing the previous administration’s attempt to ban them.

    TikTok found itself in the crosshairs of the Trump administration, with officials trying to get the social media platform banned in the US. The only proposed alternative was for TikTok’s parent, ByteDance, to sell off the US operations. Oracle, along with Walmart, emerged as winning company, but neither US nor Chinese officials could agree on terms, leaving the company in limbo.

    Shortly after taking office, President Biden ordered a review of the previous administration’s attempts to ban TikTok and WeChat, but has now signed an executive order reversing the attempt to ban them.

    President Biden revoked and replaced three E.O.s that aimed to prohibit transactions with TikTok, WeChat, and eight other communications and financial technology software applications; two of these E.O.s are subject to litigation.

    In lieu of banning the platforms, the executive order instructs the Commerce Department to evaluate “foreign adversary connected software applications” and take action where appropriate to protect user data.

  • Oracle Offering Arm-Based Cloud Computing

    Oracle Offering Arm-Based Cloud Computing

    Oracle has announced it is offering Arm-based cloud computing, using processors from Ampere Computing.

    Arm Holdings designs semiconductors and licenses those designs to other companies. The processors offer a combination of power and efficiency that make them ideally suited for use in compact spaces, making them the preferred chips for smartphones and tablets. Those same qualities also make them ideal for data center operations, where cooling and power requirements are at a premium.

    Oracle now joins Amazon as one of the companies offering Arm-based cloud computing services, powered by Ampere A1 Compute chips. Oracle is touting its cost, a mere one cent per core hour, as the industry’s lowest cost per core.

    “We see increasing demand for server-side Arm computing and adding Arm-based compute instances to our extensive portfolio of offerings enables customers to pick and choose the right processors for their workloads,” said Clay Magouyrk, executive vice president, Oracle Cloud Infrastructure. “Now customers who need an Arm platform for development can get the flexibility, scalability, and price-performance they need. We’re also making it really easy for developers to move their apps and develop new ones on Oracle Cloud Infrastructure.”

    “Ampere instances on OCI is a breakthrough for developers. Oracle’s Free Tier is a great offering that allows them to test the OCI Ampere A1 compute platform and experience the first-cloud native processor that delivers predictable performance, scalability and power needed,” said Renee James, founder, chairman and CEO, Ampere Computing. “The Oracle Cloud has all the tools developers need to try new technology, get excited about new platforms and develop new applications.”

    Arm semiconductor adoption in the data center is another increasingly worrying sign for Intel. While Arm has dominated the mobile market, Intel was the king of traditional computers and the data center. Last year, however, Apple announced it was switching its Mac platform to its own custom silicon, based on Arm designs. Microsoft has started following suit, pushing Windows on Arm.

    With Amazon and Oracle both supporting Arm-based cloud computing, Intel’s last stronghold is now under full assault.