Oracle Is Most Assuredly In the Cloud

In September 2008, when Oracle CEO Larry Ellison commented, rather wryly, on cloud computing, you could take him at his word. As he said, "The interesting thing about cloud computing is that we've redefined cloud computing to include everything we already do. I can't think of anything that isn't cloud computing with all of these announcements." But, after mocking the concept a little more, he pulled back just enough to say they most definitely would be in the game with acquisitions to follow.

Of course, there was more truth to what he said and implied. In the end, cloud computing is an evolution; not something brand new, so CEO's like Ellison, who have built incredibly successful technology companies over many years, may feel a slight twitch of angst at all the hoopla over something they've been working to create, or at least, have contributed to over the years.

Then, in April 2009, Oracle said it was buying Sun Microsystems. This time Ellison made it clear: "Oracle will be the only company that can engineer an integrated system - applications to disk - where all the pieces fit and work together so customers don't have to do it themselves." It was as if, among other things, they wished to strengthen their cloud computing hand. The only question would be how to deliver the whole bundle (i.e. as a service, an appliance, or through traditional methods) - not that they would create an integrated system ready for use "out-of-the-box" (side note: the Oracle-Sun deal should close later this year).

But, beyond the hyperbole, the question becomes not just how does one define their cloud strategy, but how does one package it up and deliver it to customers. Moreover, how does one position it across the different audiences that will either decide if it's appropriate and/or actually use it whether they be executives, business managers, IT professionals or developers.

For Oracle, that means clearly deciding what kind of cloud provider they want to be, then assembling their cloud-related product lines by end-user type. Without question, as Ellison stated, they've been doing this for some time. What's changed are new products and services that augment their current offerings, as well as, better definitions of these solution sets across the three pillars of cloud computing: Software as a Service (SaaS), Infrastructure as a Service (IaaS) and Platform as a Service (PaaS).

In some cases, like the areas of Infrastructure and Platform services, they act as an enabler of cloud technology to the providers who ultimately offer these services to their end-user customers; as a result, Oracle focuses its direct selling efforts in the areas of Software as a Service - following its traditional market of buyers but delivering these applications differently - on-demand as a service. In parallel, they focus on SaaS offerings for their developer community, hence acting as an enabler or technology supplier to other companies that want to get into the cloud computing business. Within this context, one can better see how acquiring Sun can help them further these aims - Sun has some key cloud technologies and is developing their own platform called the Sun Cloud.

In short, Oracle has a well-defined set of cloud computing offerings for end-users across the spectrum - businesses, developers, and IT professionals. Organizations can choose a number of Oracle On Demand business applications delivered via the SaaS model. They offer the Oracle Platform for SaaS for developers in enterprises, independent software vendors (ISVs) and service providers (SPs) - a fully-integrated development and deployment environment for cloud-based services that can be run in either a public or private cloud (i.e. an on-premise cloud that exists in the enterprise). And, they've got you covered if you're looking to deploy Oracle applications or technologies via Amazon Web Services or another public cloud.

Read the Oracle Company Profile for more detail on their cloud computing strategy.