COMPLEX BUSINESS CHALLANGES REQUIRE SIMPLE TECH SOLUTIONS
John Fowler Executive Vice President, Systems: The words “commodity system hardware” should describe something very simple. Being a commodity, system hardware should be easy to fit to a system design, source, assemble, configure, run, and manage. Based only on the words “commodity system hardware”, that’s what the experience should be.
As a commodity, commodity system hardware should deliver optimal or near-optimal performance to the business quickly and easily, and that performance should improve in a linear fashion for every additional gigabyte or gigahertz or other measure of improvement in that new hardware. After all, commodity hardware is sold based on clearly enumerated specifications, and an increase in hardware capability should map simply and easily to business application performance improvements.
But as businesses struggle to integrate commodity system hardware into their data centres now, the reality of “commodity” is not simple. The reality of sourcing, assembling, configuring, running, managing, and optimising a collection of best-of-breed or any less-than-best mix of different commodity system hardware is complexity.
GET REAL
In his “The Real-Time Enterprise” keynote at Oracle OpenWorld, Oracle Executive Vice President of Systems John Fowler opened with a reference to a quote from Oracle Executive Chairman and Chief Technology Officer Larry Ellison: “…the cardinal sin of the computing industry is the creation of complexity.”
Fowler talked about the complex competitive challenges that businesses face today, and offered a statement of support for Oracle customers. “We want to make it simpler to tackle complex problems,” said Fowler.
The road to simple solutions to complex business problems does not go through what Fowler called generic technologies from a range of vendors. “In order to get at truly simplifying large-scale business problems, you have to both improve the underlying technologies to have better than generic underlying technologies, but also aggregate these things,” said Fowler.
Underlying hardware technologies, and technologies that make revolutionary use of underlying hardware technologies, are a critical part of the Oracle strategy for simplifying large-scale business problems.
GET SPECIFIC
In Fowler’s keynote and in other sessions at Oracle OpenWorld, Oracle executives described key Oracle hardware technologies and technologies that use hardware in revolutionary ways, including Oracle Exadata, Oracle Big Data SQL, Oracle FS1, Oracle Exalytics In-Memory Machine, Oracle Database In-Memory, Oracle’s Zero Data Loss Recovery Appliance, and SPARC M7.
The original engineered system, Oracle Exadata, pioneered the idea of “smart storage”—storage server hardware enabled and optimised for database queries by smart storage software. Oracle Exadata’s smart storage supports the concept of smart scans, which moves significant volumes of query processing from system servers to storage servers and improves Oracle Database query processing time by orders of magnitude. The recently announced Oracle Big Data SQL also uses the technology pioneered in Oracle Exadata smart scans to move query processing to storage servers, delivering fast and integrated big data query processing across Oracle Database, Hadoop, and NoSQL data.
Oracle Exadata also blazed a trail with the addition of a different type of physical storage: fast PCI-based flash storage. Oracle’s commitment to flash is evident in the increased flash storage in each new generation of Oracle Exadata. That commitment is also clear in the new Oracle FS1 Series flash storage system, announced September 29, 2014. More than a flash storage array, Oracle FS1 Series is co-engineered with Oracle servers, operating systems, applications, and databases for maximum operational efficiency.
As the price of system memory, DRAM, has fallen, the demand for faster answers from faster, in-memory computing has increased. The Oracle Exalytics In-Memory Machine was introduced in 2012 to deliver faster answers for business intelligence and enterprise performance management. In 2014, Oracle introduced Oracle Database In-Memory, which loads a database table column-store format into system memory for faster Oracle Database 12c queries and transactions—much, much faster queries and much faster transactions. And announced September 29, 2014, the updated Oracle Exalytics In-Memory Machine X4-4 added support for Oracle Database In-Memory.
Most general backup and recovery systems look at storage locations and files and not the type of content. On September 29, 2014, Oracle announced its Zero Data Loss Recovery Appliance, the world’s first and only engineered system designed specifically for Oracle Database protection.
Currently under development, the SPARC M7 processor is a CPU, not a system or an engineered system. But it is much more than a collection of the fastest SPARC cores to date. The software in Silicon technology in the SPARC M7 processor delivers revolutionary hardware features designed to provide better performance and reliability for software. Application data integrity stops memory corruption caused by coding errors and some attempted security exploits. Acceleration units offload and process some database (SQL) instructions, speeding up in-memory database queries, and freeing the SPARC M7 cores for other tasks. Real-time decompression of compressed data will enable large in-memory databases to run on smaller machines, without compromising performance. The combination of the silicon and the software will enable the SPARC M7 to scan up to 170 billion database rows per second. Yes, that’s a lot of rows.
GET CONVERGED
Delivering powerful, high-volume, high-speed, business solutions from a collection of generic, commodity infrastructure hardware is not simple or easy. A combination of engineered solutions – prebuilt integrations of hardware and software as well as software solutions purpose-built and optimised to make better use of hardware- is the key to simple and powerful business solutions.
ORACLE PARTNER NETWORK
David Callaghan, Senior Vice, President, Alliances & Channels, EMEA, Oracle: A dedicated event for Oracle Partners, OPN Central @ OpenWorld provided a full week of partner programming, networking, and new growth opportunities. Partners gathered at the OPN Central keynote to learn about Oracle’s strategic plans for FY2015 and hear how they can leverage innovations in Oracle technology to disrupt the status quo, expand their business, and grow revenue opportunities with Oracle.
The event provided insight into new OPN programs designed to help partners adopt and benefit from Oracle Cloud, Engineered Systems, and the Oracle-on-Oracle strategy.
In addition, Oracle announced new resources available to help partners make the transition to the cloud, including the Oracle Cloud Referral program, the addition of Oracle Cloud services to Oracle’s Value Added Distributor (VAD) distribution offerings and OPN Cloud Connection, an open community where partners can explore the Oracle Cloud, access cloud resources and best practices, learn about innovative new business models, and engage with Oracle Cloud experts and other partners to develop their cloud strategy. OPN Cloud Connection is available to Oracle partners, as well as non-Oracle members.
The Oracle PartnerNetwork Program
Oracle continues to enhance and evolve the OPN program, giving partners at every level new opportunities to excel and grow in their respective markets. Enhancements and additions to the OPN program include:
Systems Integrators (SIs)
OPN is evolving its Diamond-level benefits with enhanced enablement offerings and priority access to demonstration equipment and environments, especially as they work with Oracle to drive Oracle Cloud, Engineered Systems, and Oracle-on-Oracle business.
Diamond-level OPN members will also receive increased benefits with marketing engagement, visibility, and promotional opportunities.
Resale and distribution partners
Oracle is committed to continuing the strong growth of our cloud resale and distribution partners, which grew 300 percent in the past fiscal year.
In addition to offering partners the most comprehensive platform to develop, resell, build, or embed their own solutions with Oracle Cloud technologies, Oracle will also allow partners to capitalise on service opportunities related to those deployments.
Independent Software Vendors (ISVs)
Oracle continues to offer ISVs – from startup to mainstream – a one-step technology stop for their entire infrastructure.
With Oracle Database 12c, including Oracle Database In-Memory and Oracle Multitenant options, ISVs can bring innovative new capabilities to their applications without code changes. To help ISVs take full advantage of this new offering, Oracle Database Ready certification now includes both Oracle Multitenant and Oracle Database In-Memory options.
Oracle Database Appliance and Oracle Big Data Appliance have been added to the Oracle Exastack program. By using Oracle engineered systems as the foundation for their applications, ISVs are able to deliver unprecedented levels of performance, scalability and reliability to their customers, both on premises and in the cloud, without code changes.
OPN will also continue to extend partner rebates for investing in areas strategic to Oracle through the OPN Incentive program. In addition, Oracle is expanding our Oracle Customer 2 Cloud program, enabling ERP customers to shelve or cancel on-premises support if they move to a similar Oracle Cloud solution. Oracle will support partners in helping customers successfully transition their business practices to the cloud.
Many partner Customer 2 Cloud solutions will soon be available on Oracle Cloud Marketplace.
Oracle’s partners continue to find success and marketplace differentiation through the OPN Specialised program.
· In FY2014, more than 4,600 new partners joined OPN. Today, more than 5,000 partners have obtained OPN Specialised status, representing 47,000 Specialisations. Partners now have the ability to become OPN Specialised in more than 200 Oracle technology, application, and industry solution areas.
· More than 15,000 individuals have achieved Oracle Cloud Specialist certifications and 700 partners have achieved cloud Specialisations.
· In addition to strong cloud momentum, more than 1,700 ISV applications support Oracle’s engineered systems and have achieved Oracle Exastack Ready status. More than 240 ISV applications have been tested and tuned for extreme performance and have achieved Oracle Exastack Optimised status.
· OPN’s Oracle Validated Integration program continues to reach unprecedented levels. Currently, 247 participating partners worldwide have 352 integrations across more than 20 Oracle Applications. Oracle Validated Integration is Oracle’s go-to-market program for partners with repeatable integration for solutions that extend and enhance Oracle Applications.
“Our partner community is essential to Oracle’s success in EMEA,” says David Callaghan. “Oracle is committed to providing the resources, tools, and technology our partners need to succeed and grow and fully capitalise on new market opportunities, such as the cloud. The evolution we continue to make in the Oracle PartnerNetwork (OPN) program is geared to help partners accelerate their expertise in new technologies and better serve joint customers around the globe.”
