Oracle struggles to eliminate its dilatory cloud computing strategy

Oracle's noncommittal view of cloud computing from the outset has shown that it is a small change to push the development of cloud computing. But after so long, Oracle's cloud computing strategy does not seem to have much concrete landing products and services. This year's Oracle OpenWorld, Oracle focused on demonstrating its own practical efforts in developing the cloud environment.

At this year's OpenWorld Congress, Oracle is struggling to dispel the lingering skepticism of its dilatory cloud computing strategy. An executive from Oracle has provided a fairly detailed overview of the new capabilities that the company plans to launch in the next few years in the areas of software as a service (SaaS), Platform for Services (PaaS), and infrastructure, the service (IaaS).

In a meeting called Oracle, the technical force that drives cloud development, Robert Shimp, vice president of the group, pointed out that the company's goal in the next few years was to build top-tier technology and services at every level of the cloud stack. To achieve this goal, Oracle databases, Oracle Fusion Middleware, Oracle Enterprise managers and Oracle virtual machines will all take turns, bringing a wave of new features to the private cloud and public cloud.

As Oracle's clients use cloud computing as a growing proportion of the population, the development strategy is bound to make adjustments. For example, a study to be released recently by Oracle's application User group (OAUG) shows that the proportion of Oracle's user population in the past year has increased by 28%. The proportion of users using the public cloud climbed faster, up more than 50% per cent.

"More enterprise customers today choose new applications that are deployed in a cloud environment than if they are extended to older applications." ”

Shimp that Oracle is currently the Tai of enterprise-class technology, many will or already have the ability to connect with the cloud environment. Oracle's entire fusion application has been able to be considered SaaS, and can be used as an optional service to run smoothly in a private cloud, a public cloud, or a mixed cloud. Oracle's fusion applications for cloud environments include financial management, human resource management, supply chain management, customer Relationship Management (CRM), and portfolio management software.

"This is the most comprehensive collection of apps ever seen on the market," Shimp confidently.

Oracle's platform, the service suite, will contain a range of highly competitive products, including fusion applications, core database technology, MySQL tools, and several identity management software. Oracle's platform, the service suite, will run on top of the hardware platform optimized for special tasks.

"We believe that in the near future, enterprise-class cloud technology will be built on an orderly engineering system rather than simply adding up the Intel equipment heap," he said.

At the same time, Oracle's infrastructure, the service offerings, will be based on a new range of technology versions that are more optimized for the cloud, such as the Solaris operating system, Oracle Virtual Machine virtual technology, and Oracle Linux, of course, for users who want to use Linux. According to Shimp, Oracle virtual machines will provide better scalability than VMware's peers, while "dramatically" reducing costs.

Oracle's new Enterprise Manager, 12c, was released this week, and is said to play its central role in cloud management technology. It has new virtualization and cloud resource management tools, which means the tool itself is developed in a cloud environment. Oracle will continue to launch more similar versions of the Enterprise-class technology core in the future, Shimp said.

"Oracle has a significant advantage in building strong products in the cloud," said Yefim Natis, an analyst from Gartner Analytics. "But what the current product has can only be called embryonic, especially in the direction of leading the market." ”

According to Gartner, all major software vendors will move in the platform-service market by the end of this year, he said. So far, at least, Oracle and its rival, IBM, have yet to show decisive cards. But it is almost certain that they will never give up the Virgin land that needs to be exploited.

"The platform where services are at the level of cloud architecture is to define standards and build ecosystems for cloud infrastructure," Natis explains. "Those suppliers who are interested in the world are scrambling to control them to gain further market influence and dominance," he said. The service provider, the platform that can win the support of the most independent software developers, will undoubtedly become the leader in this field and cloud software industry in the 2014. ”

Independent analyst Rob Enderle, who poured cold water on Oracle, questioned the company's chances of using its technology in the cloud technology sector. Oracle is still dealing with the environment of the cloud technology of course hosting, and taking this as a starting point to plan the development direction. While there is some truth to this understanding, there is actually a slight difference. ”

The cloud computing environment can actually be seen as a commercial version of the managed environment, and Oracle does not seem to have the intention of brewing commercial products, Enderle said. "The profit targets set by these guys are a little too high," he said. ”

On the contrary, for Oracle, the best way to woo suppliers may be to take a direct approach to the goal of technological achievement in this area, such as the acquisition of Mozy by EMC in 2008, Enderle points out.

"I think that if Oracle really values this new expanse, they need to make the same choice," he said. "Despite their secrecy, I can actually assert that Oracle has not yet developed a workable strategy for cloud technology development," he said. ”

(Responsible editor: The good of the Legacy)