Oracle Launches Next-Generation 11g Database Management System

| July 13, 2007 | Data Management | Competitive Intelligence Report

| Analyst: James Kobielus

Event Summary

On July 11th Oracle formally announced Oracle Database 11g, the forthcoming major enhancement release of the industry-leading database. The forthcoming release will extend the vendor’s grid-based database clustering, data center automation, and workload management capabilities, adding new reliability, availability, scalability, performance, optimization, security, administration, management, development, testing, and integration features. Oracle has not published a general availability date or pricing for the release. The vendor also announced Oracle Database 11g training, education, information, and readiness opportunities now being provided for members of the Oracle Partner Network.

Analytical Summary

• Current Perspective: Positive on Oracle’s formal launch of Oracle Database 11g, for which the vendor still has not provided a general availability date. Oracle has announced myriad feature enhancements that will make its industry-leading database management system (DBMS) even more robust, reliable, available, scalable, fast, efficient, secure, flexible, manageable, auditable, and interoperable. Though the vendor has not implemented any radically new features in Oracle Database 11g, it has thoroughly and deeply enhanced most components of this already best-of-breed enterprise information management platform.

• Vendor Importance: High to Oracle, because, though it has a considerable DBMS market-share lead over IBM and Microsoft, the vendor knows that it must—through ongoing enhancements and innovations—continue to defend that lead, maintain customer loyalty, differentiate its solution family, and stimulate cross-sales of its own and its partners’ applications and tools.

• Market Impact: High on the database technology market, because Oracle is the undisputed enterprise DBMS market leader, is rolling out a wide range of impressive new and incremental features in the forthcoming 11g release, and is very likely to release Oracle Database 11g over the next several months, while its nearest competitors—IBM and Microsoft—are still in early-to-mid beta-testing on their respective next-generation database platforms.

Recommended Competitor Actions

• Rival enterprise DBMS vendors should immediately revisit their product roadmaps with an eye toward matching the full set of advanced features that Oracle is rolling out in its 11g database. In particular, IBM and Microsoft should make sure that they provide comparable functionality either in the enhancements planned for their respective DBMS products in 2008, or in follow-on service packs.

• DBMS competitors should focus on competing with Oracle in the full range of database market segments, including enterprise, open-source, embedded, in-memory, and distributed data-grid. To that end, IBM, Microsoft, Teradata, and Sybase should each engage in strategic acquisition, partnering, licensing, and development to broaden their respective database product families.

• DBMS vendors should add native support for Semantic Web standards to their products. In the forthcoming DB2 9 “Viper 2,” IBM should include its Integrated Ontology Development Toolkit and Minerva RDF/OWL repository, which are currently available as add-ons through its Alphaworks site. Lacking their own Semantic Web technologies, Microsoft, Teradata, Sybase, and other enterprise database vendors should consider acquiring one or more of the many promising start-ups in this young segment.

Recommended End User / Customer Actions

• Current Oracle Database users should request that the vendor provide full availability, pricing, licensing, packaging, and migration details as soon as possible. Once they have this information, existing customers can begin to consider whether, when, how, with what resources, and on which platforms they will migrate toward Oracle Database 11g over the next several years.

• Current Oracle customers can benefit from any of the reliability, availability, scalability, performance, optimization, security, administration, management, development, testing, integration, and semantics features in the 11g DBMs and should consider migrating when the solution becomes generally available for their operating environment. To the extent that customers have participated in the 11g beta tests, they should first download the production version and run it through the full suite of tests before committing to upgrade to production status. Customers may find it prudent to wait for the inevitable first service pack in 6-12 months before beginning their migration.

• Current customers of Oracle’s SOA, BPM, BI, ERP, and other applications should ask the vendor to provide a comprehensive roadmap for enhancing the applications to leverage the new functionality in Oracle Database 11g. Though there is no doubt that Oracle will eventually enhance all of its solutions for 11g, customers can rest assured that their current investments in the 10g or previous Oracle DBMSs that incorporated into their applications are safe.

• Prospects looking for a best-of-breed, robust, scalable, high-performance, SOA-enabled enterprise DBMS already have the current Oracle Database 10g in their short list, and should begin now to evaluate 11g in earnest. When Oracle Database 11g becomes commercially available, prospects should evaluate it against its closest competitors: IBM DB2 9 (current or forthcoming “Viper 2”) and Microsoft SQL Server 2005 (current or forthcoming SQL Server 2008). Oracle is poised to further cement its hold on the enterprise DBMS market with this coming release, which offers a wide range of significant feature enhancements.

• Oracle partners should immediately take advantage of the 11g training, education, information, and readiness opportunities that the vendor is now providing for members of the Oracle Partner Network.

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