Oracle OpenWorld 2019, the technology giant's flagship customer and partner event, provides a timely reality check for Oracle's overall business and technology strategy.
Track this live blog throughout the week for updates on Oracle cloud, security, alliance and partner engagements. Here's the chatter so far.
1. Who's In Charge?: Marc Hurd and Safra Catz have both held the Oracle CEO title since September 2014. While Hurd has overseen the sales, service and marketing departments, Catz has oversee the operations, legal and finance departments. However, Hurd last week took a leave of absence to focus on a health issue -- leaving Catz and Chairman Larry Ellison to run the business. No doubt, Oracle has a deep bench, but the company also faces intense competition on multiple cloud fronts.
2. SaaS vs IaaS and PaaS: Plenty of headlines position Oracle Cloud against Amazon Web Services (AWS). Yes, Oracle has an IaaS (infrastructure as a service) business. But that misses the bigger point. Under Hurd, Oracle has been emphasizing SaaS growth -- essentially competing against cloud applications from SAP, Salseforce and WorkDay, among others. We'll be watching for signs of progress at the conference.
3. Oracle Cloud Progress: Ahead of the conference, Oracle pointed to cloud ERP momentum -- stating that the business grew 33 percent in Q1 fiscal 2020 vs. Q1 fiscal 2019. Also, Ellison promised to announce more Autonomous Cloud Services to complement Oracle Autonomous Database at the conference. Among the recent milestones: Oracle added more than 500 new Autonomous Database cloud customers in Q1, and the company expects to more than double that in Q2.
Oracle's overall revenues for Q1 fiscal 2020 were $9.218 billion, up slightly from $9.193 billion in Q1 fiscal 2019. Net income was $2.137 billion, down slightly from $2.265 billion in the corresponding quarter last year. The revenue figures were slightly below Wall Street's expectations.
4. Partner Focus Areas: Where should partners focus their time at OpenWorld? These seven items provide some starting points, according to Camillo Speroni, VP, global alliances and strategic services, Cloud Business Group at Oracle.
5. Don't Forget NetSuite: Yes, the NetSuite SaaS platform remains a bright spot for partners. It's safe to expect updates from Craig West, SVP of channel sales at NetSuite. West was one of the first channel chiefs to build a SaaS-friendly partner program.
6. Oracle and Microsoft vs AWS: It's a safe bet Oracle and Microsoft will provide updates to their cloud services partnership. Even as they compete on multiple fronts, the two companies want to surround and pressure AWS -- particularly in the managed cloud data base market.
Oracle OpenWorld 2019: Monday Updates
7. Oracle Autonomous Database Updates: Oracle mentioned multiple Autonomous Database customer deployments, though actual revenue figures for the platform were not disclosed. The database also gained numerous feature enhancements.
8. Oracle Cloud Regions, Microsoft Azure Partnership: Oracle plans to launch 20 new Oracle Cloud regions by the end of 2020, for a total of 36 Oracle Cloud Infrastructure regions. The company also announced updates to its interconnect roadmap with Microsoft Azure.
9. Oracle Cloud Security: Oracle introduced three new cloud services to more effectively protect customer workloads. They include Oracle Data Safe, Oracle Cloud Guard and Oracle Maximum Security Zones. The trio provides centralized security configuration and posture management, as well as automated enforcement of security practices.
10. Oracle Free Offers: A new Oracle Cloud Free Tier allows anyone to try the company's database and Oracle Cloud Infrastructure for an unlimited time. The idea: Allow developers, students and educators to build, learn, and explore the functionality of Oracle Autonomous Database and Oracle Cloud Infrastructure, including Compute VMs, Block and Object Storage, and Load Balancer.
11. Oracle App Store: The Oracle Cloud Marketplace now supports billing for third-party software listings -- which should make it easier for customers to purchase multi-vendor solutions from Oracle's cloud.
12. Oracle-Deloitte: Oracle Consulting and Deloitte announced a strategic sales and delivery collaboration called ELEVATE. The duo's focus: Helping customers to move workloads to Oracle Autonomous Database and Oracle Cloud Infrastructure.
13. Oracle-VMware: Oracle and VMware expanded partnership to help customers leverage the companies’ enterprise software and cloud solutions. Among the key moves: Customers will be able to run VMware Cloud Foundation on Oracle Cloud Infrastructure. VMware has been building a multi-cloud management strategy -- working most closely with Amazon Web Services but also partnering with Google Cloud Platform, Microsoft Azure and IBM Cloud.
14. Oracle Cloud Management: ManageEngine Application Manager now supports performance monitoring of Oracle Cloud Infrastructure workloads.
15. McAfee on Oracle: McAfee has expanded its Oracle relationship to deliver security incident and events management (SIEM) performance capabilities in the cloud. Keep an eye on McAfee Enterprise Security Manager (McAfee ESM) technology running on Oracle Cloud Infrastructure.
16. Quest on Oracle: Quest Software has updated Toad for Oracle, a database management toolset that eases database development and administration tasks.
Oracle OpenWorld 2019: Tuesday Updates
17. Oracle License Management: Snow Software has expanded its Oracle capabilities with an automated compliance engine and advanced spend optimization analytics, the company says.
18. Microsoft Teams Integration: Building on the Oracle and Microsoft cloud interoperability partnership, the two companies have now integrated Oracle Digital Assistant and Microsoft Teams. The result: Enterprise customers can now access Oracle Cloud Applications through an AI-powered voice experience in Teams, the companies say.
19. AI Voice: Oracle Digital Assistant now features AI-trained voice capabilities. The result: Enterprise customers can use voice commands to communicate with their enterprise applications, the company says.
20. Cloud ERP: The company has unveiled updates to Oracle Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) Cloud and Enterprise Performance Management (EPM) Cloud. Key details are here.
21. SD-WANs: Aryaka SmartConnect SD-WAN has achieved “Integrated with Oracle Cloud” status and is now available in the Oracle Cloud Marketplace.
22. Multi-Cloud Security: Aviatrix, a provider of networking and security services for multi-cloud enterprises, has extended its portfolio of services to the Oracle Cloud Infrastructure (OCI).
Oracle OpenWorld: Wednesday and Thursday Updates
23. Box Integration An Oracle-Box integration will customers to connect their cloud and on-premises Oracle and third-party applications with Box, the companies say.
24. Oracle Cloud's Reach: Equinix has introduced multiple expansions that extend Oracle Cloud Infrastructure access into new markets. Details are here.
25. Cloud ERP Software: NetSuite has migrated its ERP software to parent Oracle's cloud infrastructure.
26. NetSuite for Nonprofits: NetSuite is promoting a Social Impact Program, which currently benefits more than 1,500 nonprofit organizations worldwide, the company says.
27. Couchbase Server 6.5: Details emerged here.
28. More Updates: We'll update this blog throughout Oracle OpenWorld 2019. Got news or observations to share from the conference? Please email me the details: [email protected].
