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Tag: Oracle

  • Oracle/Walmart/TikTok Deal May Be Headed For Another Impasse

    Oracle/Walmart/TikTok Deal May Be Headed For Another Impasse

    The deal to keep TikTok running in the US is headed for another impasse over control of the new company.

    According to TheStreet, TikTok Global will be a new company created to handle operations outside of China. Oracle, along with Walmart, will take a 20% stake in the company. This is a big win for Walmart, as they originally had tried to partner with Microsoft in their failed bid. TikTok’s CEO was insulted by Microsoft describing the social media platform as a security risk, torpedoing Microsoft’s involvement in the company’s future. Walmart, however, was able to avoid the fallout and jump onboard with Oracle’s successful bid.

    Unfortunately for the companies involved, there appears to be some disagreement about who will have majority ownership. President Trump had claimed that TikTok’s ownership would “have nothing to do with any outside land, any outside country. It will have nothing to do with China.”

    ByteDance, on the other hand, has said TikTok Global’s technology, majority ownership and the bulk of its executive board would be based in China. According to International Business Times, however, Trump has vowed to block any deal that leaves the new company under Chinese control.

    It remains to be seen if the involved parties will be able to work out a resolution.

  • TikTok Oracle Deal Approval Imminent

    TikTok Oracle Deal Approval Imminent

    The Financial Times reports that under Oracle’s proposal currently under review by various entities within the US government including Treasury and Homeland Security, TikTok is set to become a standalone US company to satisfy White House conditions. The agreement would keep ByteDance as majority shareholding, with Oracle holding a minority stake. This condition would seem to be at odds with Trump’s mandate for TikTok to become an American owned company to satisfy the terms of his executive order designed to protect the privacy and security of the American public.

    However, President Trump told reporters today that he heard that Oracle and TikTok are “very close to a deal.” He said that a decision on the pending deal will be made “pretty soon.” He noted that he has “high respect” Oracle Chairman Larry Ellison. Ellison is a well-known supporter of President Trump. The trust that the President has with Ellison is likely key to making this deal happen.

    CNBC’s Jim Cramer who has both tech world sources and is friends with Treasury Secretary Steve Mnuchin said this today:

    I think there’s a deal as soon as today. I think that the review is almost complete. They like Oracle. They don’t feel that Oracle has any ties (to China). I think that they are going to get all of TikTok worldwide. They are going to hire 25,000 people in America. Apparently Secretary Mnuchin is very happy about the security concerns. Oracle CEO Safra Catz is saying we are ready. We have a gigantic cloud presence and we are already doing a lot in advertising. This is going to be today or maybe tomorrow.

    There are 55 million users at 79 minutes a day and there are 100 million users per month. It is a prize asset. The reason why the deal is going to be done is because Oracle is a trusted company in the White House. It’s not going to be that Oracle owns it. It is going to be owned by these PE firms, some of it Oracle, and that’s why I think the deal is going to be approved.

    The Wall Street Journal tonight is reporting that the deal may actually include a piece of the TikTok globally as well:

    China’s ByteDance Ltd. would retain a majority ownership stake in its TikTok app as part of a proposal to be reviewed by national-security regulators on Tuesday with an eye toward settling the high-profile deal by a deadline Sunday, according to a person familiar with the situation.

    The proposal includes Oracle Corp. ’s bid to become TikTok’s U.S. technology partner as part of an effort to address the administration’s national-security concerns surrounding the Chinese-owned video-sharing app.

    Source: Wall Street Journal

    “We just got this proposal over the weekend it would be inappropriate for me to comment on it,” said Treasury Secretary Steve Mnuchin yesterday in an impromptu press gathering this afternoon. “It’s going to go through a national security review in the next couple of days and then we’ll be sitting down and reviewing it with the President. But as we’ve said before a condition of any deal is to make sure that we believe that the code is safe, that U.S .citizens personal data is safe, and that the phones are safe. We have a lot of confidence in Oracle so we’ll be reviewing the technical issues with them.”

  • Oracle TikTok Deal Dead?

    Oracle TikTok Deal Dead?

    Is the Oracle TikTok deal dead on arrival? According to China state-affiliated media China will not allow ByteDance to sell TikTok’s U.S. operations to Oracle (or Microsoft), nor will the company be allowed to give the source code to any U.S. buyers. CGTN Digital reports that its sources say that despite news reports to the contrary ByteDance will not be selling TikTok’s U.S. operations to Oracle.

    The U.S. Department of the Treasury will be reviewing the deal for the U.S. operations of TikTok. The reported sale was designed to avoid an outright ban of TikTok in the United States because of concerns that data from U.S. citizens were being transferred to the communist government of China.

    “We just got this proposal over the weekend it would be inappropriate for me to comment on it,” said Treasury Secretary Steve Mnuchin in an impromptu press gathering this afternoon. “It’s going to go through a national security review in the next couple of days and then we’ll be sitting down and reviewing it with the President. But as we’ve said before a condition of any deal is to make sure that we believe that the code is safe, that U.S .citizens personal data is safe, and that the phones are safe. We have a lot of confidence in Oracle so we’ll be reviewing the technical issues with them.

    Oracle has confirmed Secretary Mnuchin’s statement that it is part of the proposal submitted by ByteDance to the Treasury Department over the weekend in which Oracle will serve as the trusted technology provider.  Oracle noted that it has a 40-year track record providing secure, highly performant technology solutions.

    Breaking: Treasury Secretary Steve Mnuchin discusses potential Oracle – TikTok deal
  • Oracle Beats Out Microsoft/Walmart As TikTok’s US Partner

    Oracle Beats Out Microsoft/Walmart As TikTok’s US Partner

    In a surprise move, Oracle has emerged as the frontrunner to be the US partner for TikTok.

    The Trump administration instituted a ban on TikTok that goes into effect mid-September, unless a buyer could be found to take over US operations. Microsoft, partnering with Walmart, emerged as an early prospect before Oracle also threw its name in the mix.

    Before a deal could be finalized, however, the Chinese government changed its export rules governing what technologies could be exported. It’s believed the new rules directly impact the algorithm TikTok uses for recommendations and engagement. As a result, potential buyers had to start looking at alternative ways to make a deal happen.

    According to CBC, ByteDance has rejected Microsoft’s bid in favor of Oracle. None of the involved parties are commenting, so it remains to be seen what a potential deal looks like.

  • Trump Will Not Extend TikTok Ban Deadline

    Trump Will Not Extend TikTok Ban Deadline

    As the TikTok negotiations run into trouble, President Trump has indicated he has no intention of extending a ban deadline of September 15.

    TikTok has earned the ire of US officials with repeated accusations of privacy and security violations. As a result, officials have repeatedly labeled it a threat to national security and Trump announced a ban that is scheduled to go into effect September 15.

    Microsoft and Walmart joined forces and emerged as early frontrunners to buy the social media platform’s US operations. Oracle also expressed interest, with Trump speaking favorably about a possible deal. Unfortunately, for the first time in years, the Chinese government altered its export rules to prohibit selling technologies that include AI, impacting TikTok’s algorithm.

    It’s unclear if a deal will be able to be reached, although Trump has made it clear there will be no extension granted.

  • Oracle Scores Big Cloud Wins

    Oracle Scores Big Cloud Wins

    Oracle has scored some big wins as it takes on larger cloud rivals.

    AWS, Microsoft Azure and Google Cloud dominate the US cloud computing market. Oracle, IBM and others continue to fight for market share, leveraging their existing software, services and systems to gain cloud customers.

    Oracle has been making significant headway using this strategy. According to Reuters, Oracle has scored contracts with McDonald’s, Albertsons and Humana to move at least some of their business to Oracle’s cloud platform. In addition, Xactly has decided to move the majority of its work to Oracle’s platform.

    These are major contracts for one of the underdogs of the industry and should go a long way toward helping Oracle gain ground.

  • Trump Administration May Ban More Chinese Apps

    Trump Administration May Ban More Chinese Apps

    The Trump administration is looking at banning additional Chinese apps as negotiations over TikTok have nearly ground to a halt.

    The US banned TikTok over national security and privacy concerns. The social media platform had gone from one privacy and security issue to another, leading many agencies and companies to ban their employees from using it. The nationwide ban is set to go into effect on September 15, unless a buyer can be found to take over US operations. Microsoft emerged as an early contender, buoyed by Walmart joining the tech giant in an effort to purchase TikTok. Oracle has also expressed interest, supported by Trump.

    Ultimately, however, Beijing instituted new rules governing which technologies can be exported, rules that covered the type of algorithm TikTok relies on. ByteDance has said it plans on following the new export rules, all but killing a deal in its current form. One other possibility is to sell the platform minus the algorithm that makes it what it is, leaving a buyer to create a new one.

    Now it appears the Trump administration may be looking at banning even more Chinese apps, according to CNBC. It’s a safe bet that the longer this tit for tat goes on, the more companies, services and apps will be caught in the crosshairs.

  • Oracle Loses Pentagon Contract Appeal

    Oracle Loses Pentagon Contract Appeal

    A judge has ruled against Oracle in its appeal of how the Pentagon handled its JEDI cloud contract.

    Microsoft made headlines when it won the Joint Enterprise Defense Infrastructure (JEDI) Pentagon contract, worth some $10 billion. The win was seen as a major coup for the company as it continues to challenge Amazon’s dominance in the cloud market. Amazon immediately challenged the results in a case that has yet to be decided.

    In a less publicized case, however, Oracle also challenged the Pentagon’s handling of the contract. According to Bloomberg, Oracle claimed the contract requirements unfairly favored Amazon and Microsoft, the two companies that emerged as early leading candidates.

    Ultimately, the three-judge panel ruled that “notwithstanding the extensive array of claims raised by Oracle, we find no reversible error.”

    The decision is a win for Microsoft, and could lend weight to the other case involving Amazon’s appeal.

  • Walmart Joining Microsoft in Effort to Purchase TikTok

    Walmart Joining Microsoft in Effort to Purchase TikTok

    Walmart is getting in on the TikTok action, joining Microsoft’s bid to purchase the beleaguered social media platform.

    TikTok has gone from one privacy and security scandal to the next, culminating in the Trump administration instituting a ban that will go into effect on September 15, unless a buyer can be found. Microsoft has emerged as a frontrunner, although Oracle has also expressed interest.

    Now it appears that Walmart is joining Microsoft in its bid, seeing a unique e-commerce opportunity.

    “The way TikTok has integrated e-commerce and advertising capabilities in other markets is a clear benefit to creators and users in those markets,” reads the company’s statement. “We believe a potential relationship with TikTok U.S. in partnership with Microsoft could add this key functionality and provide Walmart with an important way for us to reach and serve omnichannel customers as well as grow our third-party marketplace and advertising businesses. We are confident that a Walmart and Microsoft partnership would meet both the expectations of U.S. TikTok users while satisfying the concerns of U.S. government regulators.”

    It will be interesting to see what Microsoft and Walmart can make of TikTok, should a sale be successful.

  • 8×8 Migrates From AWS to Oracle For Secure Video

    8×8 Migrates From AWS to Oracle For Secure Video

    Oracle has scored another important cloud contract, as cloud communication platform 8×8 has migrated from AWS for secure video.

    8×8 is a cloud communication platform that helps businesses run a virtual office, with business phone numbers, voicemail, extensions, auto-receptionists, voice meetings, chat and more. As such, cloud infrastructure is vital for 8×8 to successfully meet its customers’ needs.

    Like many communication platforms, 8×8 has seen explosive growth during the pandemic. This resulted in the company needing to expand its cloud infrastructure to keep up.

    “As video meetings quickly became the connective tissue of today’s new world, we saw our user count soar. To support that exponential growth, we looked at several platforms and chose Oracle’s Gen 2 Cloud infrastructure for its strong security, outstanding price/performance, and world-class support to serve this new surge of users,” said Vik Verma, CEO of 8×8.

    In particular, Oracle’s Gen 2 Cloud Infrastructure offered 25% better performance per node than AWS, while saving 8×8 more than 80% in network outbound costs.

    Oracle recently inked a deal to help Zoom keep up with its own surge of growth. With the 8×8 deal, Oracle is establishing itself as a serious contender for mission-critical cloud architecture.

     

  • Zoom Turns to Oracle to Meet Its Infrastructure Needs

    Zoom Turns to Oracle to Meet Its Infrastructure Needs

    In a surprise move, Zoom has chosen Oracle for its latest cloud infrastructure expansion as the company experiences unprecedented growth.

    As COVID-19 has forced people to social distance, work from home, engage in remote learning and socialize digitally, Zoom has been one of the most popular platforms people have turned to. In short order, the platform went from 10 million daily users to over 300 million, putting a strain on the company’s infrastructure.

    The company already uses AWS and Microsoft for cloud infrastructure but, in an effort to keep up with demand, Zoom has struck a deal with Oracle for its latest expansion. The choice is particularly surprising given Oracle’s current place in the market, far behind AWS, Microsoft and Google. One of the motivating factors was Oracle’s security, an area where Zoom has been working to improve.

    “We recently experienced the most significant growth our business has ever seen, requiring massive increases in our service capacity. We explored multiple platforms, and Oracle Cloud Infrastructure was instrumental in helping us quickly scale our capacity and meet the needs of our new users,” said Zoom CEO Eric S. Yuan. “We chose Oracle Cloud Infrastructure because of its industry-leading security, outstanding performance, and unmatched level of support.”

    “Video communications has become an essential part of our professional and personal lives, and Zoom has led this industry’s innovation,” said Oracle CEO Safra Catz. “We are proud to work with Zoom, as both their cloud infrastructure provider and as a customer, while they grow and continue to connect businesses, people and governments around the world.”

    The deal is a huge win for Oracle as it endeavors to expand its market share, and wil likely lead to other companies looking to it as a viable option.

    Note: Clarification added to show Zoom continues to use AWS and Microsoft.

  • Coronavirus: Pandemic Boon to Cloud Providers, Doom For Legacy Companies

    Coronavirus: Pandemic Boon to Cloud Providers, Doom For Legacy Companies

    As the coronavirus pandemic sweeps the globe, it’s proving to be a defining moment for cloud computing. At the same time, it could spell doom for legacy companies.

    The coronavirus pandemic has forced countless companies across a wide range of industries to send their employees home to work. The unprecedented number of individuals telecommuting is already proving to be a boon to cloud-based businesses, as workers turn to Slack, Microsoft Teams, Google Docs, Office 365 and other cloud services.

    At the same time, however, the seismic shift in the U.S. workforce could spell doom for legacy companies. Companies like Oracle, Dell and Hewlett Packard Enterprise could be in particular danger, as these companies rely heavily on hardware and software sales to private data centers.

    Many of these companies are moving to the cloud, but as Business Insider reports, analysts believe they’re still vulnerable. According to BI, Brad Gastwirth, chief technology analyst of Wedbush told clients: “We see significant risk for traditional providers of IT hardware,” before citing HPE, Dell and NetApp as examples.

    “We see this trend as generally positive for cloud vendors and their supply chain,” Gastwirth continued. “We see legacy hardware vendors as particularly poorly positioned given limited to no cloud exposure.”

    One thing is certain: The coronavirus pandemic is going to result in permanent and monumental changes to the U.S. IT industry, changes that will greatly benefit cloud-based businesses.

  • Cloud Business Powers Oracle’s Quarterly Results

    Cloud Business Powers Oracle’s Quarterly Results

    Oracle announced its quarterly results and its cloud business was the star of the show.

    The company reported total revenue of $9.8 billion for the 2020 Q3 results, up 2% year-over-year. Most notably, its Cloud Services and License Support revenue came in at $6.9 billion, a 4% increase year-over-year.

    “We had an extremely strong quarter with Total Revenues growing 3% in constant currency,” said Oracle CEO, Safra Catz. “Subscription revenues, made up of Cloud Services and License Support revenues, grew 5% in constant currency. These consistently growing and recurring subscription revenues now account for 71% of total company revenues, thus enabling a sequential increase in our operating margin, and double-digit non-GAAP Earnings Per Share growth in Q3.”

    “The Oracle Autonomous Database, the world’s only fully autonomous data management system, can automatically patch security vulnerabilities while running; it keeps your data safe,” said Oracle Chairman and CTO, Larry Ellison. “Oracle Autonomous Database is also both serverless and elastic. It’s the only database that can instantaneously scale itself to an optimal level of CPU and IO resources. You only pay for what you use. Security and economy are two fundamental reasons why thousands of customers are now using the revolutionary new Oracle Autonomous Database in our Generation 2 Public Cloud.”

    Oracle has been trying to gain ground against Amazon, Microsoft and Google, with mixed results. Recently, the company has faced an investor lawsuit claiming it bullied customers into accepting cloud contracts and has been inflating its cloud business. Documents were even unveiled wherein Google Cloud CEO Thomas Kurian, who previously served as head of product development at Oracle, called Oracle Cloud “a disgrace” when he was with the company.

    Oracle’s quarterly results should go a long way toward helping the company answer critics.

  • Google Cloud CEO Called Oracle Cloud ‘A Disgrace’

    Google Cloud CEO Called Oracle Cloud ‘A Disgrace’

    Google Cloud CEO Thomas Kurian is on record as calling his former employer’s cloud offerings “a disgrace.”

    Oracle is currently facing an inventor lawsuit, filed by Union Asset Management Holding AG. The lawsuit alleges that Oracle mislead investors regarding the success of its cloud business and that it bullied customers into paying for cloud licenses they didn’t want to artificially inflate the business. The lawsuit also accuses Oracle’s former co-CEOs, as well as Kurian himself, of dumping the stock at inflated prices based on their firsthand knowledge of how bad the cloud business really was.

    According to The Register, the complaint says: “Oracle was largely unable to sell its defect-ridden cloud technology in bona fide transactions, as very few customers actually wanted to buy it. Yet the Company had to show burgeoning cloud sales in order to remain viable in the eyes of investors.”

    As part of the amended complaint, the plaintiffs included emails from Kurian, who was head of product development, to other Oracle executives. In one such email, to EVP Steve Miranda and other executives, Kurian said the following:

    “I want to make sure that the entire HCM dev organization understands what a disgrace your UI is and stop living in denial on that,” Kurian wrote.

    “I continue to get extraordinary pressure from our two CEOs and LJE himself that the UI is not tenable – that state is your collective responsibility and we should avoid pretending that there is not an issue … the core product UI is awful.

    “Until you all collectively accept the mess you have made and the need to move quickly we are talking past one another.”

    The release of these emails certainly sheds light on why Kurian abandoned Oracle in favor of being CEO of Google Cloud and will no doubt play a role for companies considering whether to go with Oracle’s offerings.

  • Oracle Launches Machine Learning Platform

    Oracle Launches Machine Learning Platform

    Oracle has announced the launch of its Oracle Cloud Data Science Platform, aiming to help enterprises take advantage of AI and machine learning.

    The new platform is an acknowledgement of the fact that few organizations today benefit from data science and machine learning to the extent possible. In many cases, this is because they lack the tools to take advantage of the data at their disposal. The new platform will enable enterprise customers to “collaboratively build, train, manage and deploy machine learning models to increase the success of data science projects.”

    The Cloud Data Science Platform is designed specifically with data science teams and scientists in mind, and includes the tools they need to streamline their processes.

    “Effective machine learning models are the foundation of successful data science projects, but the volume and variety of data facing enterprises can stall these initiatives before they ever get off the ground,” said Greg Pavlik, senior vice president product development, Oracle Data and AI Services. “With Oracle Cloud Infrastructure Data Science, we’re improving the productivity of individual data scientists by automating their entire workflow and adding strong team support for collaboration to help ensure that data science projects deliver real value to businesses.”

    With computer and information research scientists being in high demand, with tremendous future growth opportunities, tools like Oracle’s latest will become ever more important.

  • Oracle Adds Five Cloud Regions In Bid to Take On Rivals

    Oracle Adds Five Cloud Regions In Bid to Take On Rivals

    Oracle has added five new cloud regions as it works to take on Amazon and Microsoft in the cloud market, according to a company press release.

    According to the announcement, Oracle has“added local regions in Saudi Arabia (Jeddah), Australia (Melbourne), Japan (Osaka), Canada (Montreal), and The Netherlands (Amsterdam). As of today, all of them are open for business and available in the Oracle Cloud Console.”

    The company has added 10 new regions in the last six months, making a total of 21 locations offering Oracle’s Generation 2 Cloud. The company’s goal is to reach 36 by the end of 2020 and, with this announcement, it says it is on target to reach that goal.

    The company is also focused on redundancy to meet customers mission-critical needs.

    “To that end, four of these new regions—Osaka, Melbourne, Montreal, and Amsterdam—give customers a second site within the same country (or, in the case of Amsterdam in the EU, a second jurisdiction paired with Oracle’s existing Frankfurt region),” the press release reads. “The fifth region, in Saudi Arabia, will be joined by a second region later this year.

    “Oracle plans to put a minimum of two regions in almost every country where we operate, and these new regions mark a big step toward this goal. The United Kingdom, the United Arab Emirates, South Korea, India, and Brazil will also have two regions live by the end of 2020.”

    It remains to be seen if Oracle can compete long-term with Amazon and Microsoft. Amazon currently dominates the cloud market, but Microsoft has been making significant headway, with some analysts predicting it could overtake Amazon. In the meantime, Oracle is one of the companies seen as most vulnerable to continued gains by Microsoft.

  • Microsoft Expected To Make Major Cloud Gains At The Expense Of—Everyone

    Microsoft Expected To Make Major Cloud Gains At The Expense Of—Everyone

    On the heals of a survey showing Microsoft making significant inroads in the cloud industry, Morgan Stanley has even worse news for the company’s competitors, according to Business Insider.

    In the previous survey by Goldman Sachs—despite AWS taking in the lion’s share of cloud revenue—97% of companies said they currently use Azure, compared with 58% for AWS and 25% for Google Cloud. Even more concerning, the survey showed that far more companies were planning to use Microsoft’s platform within the next three years compared to its competitors.

    Morgan Stanley’s research provides more validation for Microsoft’s current strategy, predicting the company will “gain the largest percentage of IT budgets over the next three years, while VMware, Cisco, Hewlett Packard Enterprise, Oracle, and Dell stand to lose the most.”

    Further complicating things is an expected slowdown in IT budgets in 2020. The slowdown will negatively impact the above companies as more and more businesses move to the cloud. This move signals more good news for Microsoft, however, as it is expected to see gains “driven by an increasing proportion of customers citing Microsoft as their preferred hybrid cloud vendor,” according to the survey.

    After years of telling customers onsite hardware was antiquated and unnecessary, even Amazon recently joined the hybrid market. As Business Insider points out, with Microsoft’s lead in this particular segment, Amazon may regret ignoring the hybrid cloud market for so long.

  • Amazon Wants Court To Block Microsoft From Working On Pentagon Contract

    Amazon Wants Court To Block Microsoft From Working On Pentagon Contract

    In what seems to be a never-ending saga, Amazon is preparing to ask a federal court for a temporary injunction preventing Microsoft from working on the Pentagon’s JEDI contract, according to CNN.

    Microsoft beat out IBM, Oracle and Amazon for the Pentagon’s Joint Enterprise Defense Infrastructure (JEDI) contract worth some $10 billion. Many industry experts had expected Amazon to win, given the company’s long history working on sensitive government projects. In the wake of Microsoft’s win, Oracle and Amazon have launched legal challenges in an effort to roll back the clock.

    In Oracle’s case, it is challenging the terms of the contract award, trying to force a multi-vendor contract rather than winner-takes-all. Even if Oracle was successful, it would still not qualify for the contract for other reasons, but that hasn’t stopped the company from trying.

    Amazon, on the other hand, is trying to stop Microsoft from starting on the contract when they’re scheduled to on February 11. As CNN points out, Amazon believes it lost out on the contract due to remarks President Trump made, and is arguing it was unfairly eliminated. Given that Amazon—unlike Oracle—actually had a very good shot of winning the contract, it’s hard to say whether the court will grant the injunction.

    Either way, it will be interesting to see how far these two companies take their legal challenges. Even Disney knew when it was time to retire a certain Jedi saga. At least for now, in the context of this JEDI, neither Amazon nor Oracle seem so inclined.

  • DOD Lawyers Trying To Shut Down Oracle’s JEDI Lawsuit

    DOD Lawyers Trying To Shut Down Oracle’s JEDI Lawsuit

    The controversy surrounding the Pentagon’s recent $10 billion JEDI contract seems without end, although the DOD is aiming to end at least part of it by trying to shut down Oracle’s appeal, according to GCN.

    In the recent bidding process, AWS, Oracle, IBM and Microsoft were the four top companies in the running. Oracle and IBM were eliminated first, leaving AWS and Microsoft. Many industry experts believed AWS was all but guaranteed to come off with the win, as the company has extensive prior experience working with sensitive government projects. To everyone’s surprise, Microsoft ultimately ended up winning the coveted contract.

    In the midst of Microsoft’s win, Oracle has launched repeated attempts to have the results invalidated and a new bidding process started. In particular, Oracle wants a multi-vendor contract, rather than a single, winner-takes-all award. Oracle also claimed there was unfair bias toward AWS due to a conflict of interest stemming from a Pentagon employee who was trying to sell his own company to Amazon, while allegedly tailoring the terms of the contract to favor the cloud provider.

    The DOD is arguing that Oracle’s contentions are essentially moot points. First and foremost, even if Oracle won and the terms of the contract were redesigned, the company would still not qualify, even in a multiple-award result. Second, since Microsoft ultimately won the contract, the DOD is arguing that any possible conflict of interest is a non-factor that ultimately did not benefit AWS.

    It will be interesting to see how far Oracle continues to fight this, given there seems to be little evidence they had any real chance of winning the contract under any circumstances.

  • Oracle Releases Critical Patch Update For All Product Families

    Oracle Releases Critical Patch Update For All Product Families

    Oracle’s October 2019 Critical Patch update contains 219 security patches across virtually all of Oracle’s product families.

    The company strongly recommends all customers apply the Critical Patch Update immediately, as many breaches are a direct result of not applying security updates when they become available.

    “Oracle continues to periodically receive reports of attempts to maliciously exploit vulnerabilities for which Oracle has already released security patches. In some instances, it has been reported that attackers have been successful because targeted customers had failed to apply available Oracle patches. Oracle therefore strongly recommends that customers remain on actively-supported versions and apply Critical Patch Update security patches without delay.

    “This Critical Patch Update contains 219 new security patches across the product families listed below. Please note that an MOS note summarizing the content of this Critical Patch Update and other Oracle Software Security Assurance activities is located at October 2019 Critical Patch Update: Executive Summary and Analysis.”

    For customers who have skipped previous updates and are concerned that the October 2019 update may not include a needed patch, Oracle recommends reviewing previous Critical Patch Update advisories to determine the best update path.

    More information, including the specific products impacted, can be found here.

  • Oracle Releases Tool to Help Improve Internet Routing Security

    Oracle Releases Tool to Help Improve Internet Routing Security

    In a blog post, Oracle announced the release of IXP Filter Check, a security tool designed to monitor route filtering at internet exchange points (IXPs).

    Oracle has partnered with the Internet Society in an effort to improve internet security. IXPs are what’s responsible for connections between different networks, but they also represent a vulnerable point, where connections can be routed incorrectly—either by mistake or maliciously.

    According to Oracle, “implementing route filtering at IXPs offers the opportunity to make real progress in the improvement of internet routing hygiene. IXPs serve a vital role in the infrastructure of the internet by facilitating thousands of connections between the networks of telecoms, content providers and other major businesses.

    “However, the implementation of route filtering can be complicated and to date there has been no way to independently and programmatically verify whether an IXP was appropriately filtering its routes. Using data graciously published by Packet Clearinghouse (PCH) and data processing supported by Oracle Cloud Infrastructure, the Oracle Internet Intelligence team developed IXP Filter Check to analyze route filtering at nearly 200 IXPs around the world.

    “By monitoring the routes passed by route servers at these IXPs, and identifying those routes that should have been filtered, IXP Filter Check identifies gaps in route filtering and aims to assist in technical compliance of MANRS IXP requirements.

    “In the course of its development, IXP Filter Check has identified major filtering misconfigurations at three IXPs including a month-long RPKI filter outage at one of the world’s largest IXPs. By detecting these problems, IXP Filter Check enabled cooperating route server administrators to fix their route filtering and also validated the need for third party technical review of route server filtering.”

    With IXP Filter Check system admins will have one more tool in their arsenal to protect networks and improve the security of the internet.