GRIDtoday Logo IBM

DAILY NEWS AND INFORMATION FOR THE GLOBAL GRID COMMUNITY /

   ( Table of Contents )   

Systems/Enterprise:

ORACLE DEFINES GRID CONCEPT AT OracleWorld IN PARIS

Oracle executives Sergio Giacoletto and Chuck Phillips welcomed more than 7,000 customers and partners from around Europe, Middle East and Africa to OracleWorld, the enterprise software leader's premier technology conference.

Attendees have come to learn about a major shift underway in the computing industry -- the rise of Grid computing technology in the commercial world.

Until now, Grid computing has been the domain of scientific and academic institutions, which have used it to store and analyze extremely large amounts of data on shoe-string budgets.

These attributes -- large amounts of data and limited budgets -- are the new reality for business today, and why Grid computing now makes sense for enterprises. Giacoletto explained to the audience that the rate of information growth is increasing exponentially in business, and will continue to do so with the pervasive adoption of wireless, telematics and RFID technologies that can be used to track products from inception to sale.

"IT companies have solutions looking for problems, typically," said Giacoletto. "Oracle Enterprise Grid Computing is bringing solutions to the problems."

Keeping up with the information demands of today's business is possible with Oracle 10g, Oracle's software for Grid computing. "It helps companies do more with less," Giacoletto emphasized.

Giacoletto then welcomed Oracle's Phillips to stage to explain the broad movement in the computing industry to support Grid computing. While many technology companies are talking about Grid, few have a full set of products to support it, he underscored. "Oracle 10g is real software doing real Grid computing."

Phillips continued by unveiling Oracle's definition of Grid computing: the coordinated use of many small servers acting as one large computer. "Manage [the servers] as one, upgrade as one and applications see them as one."

Oracle 10g offers value at every level, he said. "The value to CEOs is 'pay as you go.' The value to IT executives is high availability and better quality of service. For IT staff it means more automation and greater productivity -- fewer worries. For developers and ISVs -- and this is tremendously significant -- it means no code changes required and better application management."

Giacoletto continued the joint keynote by calculating the potential economic impact of Grid computing in Europe. Citing a recent study by QNB Intelligence, Giacoletto indicated that if European companies increase their server capacity from 60 to 90 percent utilization using Grid computing, the shift could save Europe 4.5 billion Euros.

He also added that Oracle has also been working to address the needs of smaller companies -- four million of which form the backbone of the European economy. With Oracle 10g, customers and partners can expect a simpler, more affordable database offering. Oracle Database 10g will ship on a single CD with a 17-minute install and a silent install for Oracle's database embedded in partner applications. He also reminded the audience that Oracle offers a new low-entry price for the Oracle Database to make it more attractive to small and medium sized businesses. The new edition is called Oracle Standard Edition One and is currently available.

"We've made it simple and the price is right. It's the same code as the Oracle Database but available for as little as 800 Euros," he concluded.

( Top of Page )

   ( Table of Contents )