In a rare, historic moment Oracle Chairman and Chief Technology Officer Larry Ellison paid a visit to Microsoft’s headquarters in Redmond, Washington. This visit marked a pivotal moment in the longstanding rivalry between the two technology giants, as Ellison and Microsoft’s CEO Satya Nadella announced a landmark collaboration set to reshape the cloud services landscape.
Ellison’s visit to Microsoft’s home turf was nothing short of remarkable as it signifies a new era of cooperation between two major players in the tech world.
At a live-streamed event attended by industry leaders, Ellison and Nadella shared the stage to unveil their visionary partnership.
“It’s actually my first time in Redmond. It’s hard to believe,” Ellison said. “I waited until very late in my career to make the trip.”
“It took us 45 years, but here we are!” Nadella added.
A historic cloud partnership
Ellison’s visit to the Microsoft HQ is focused on the introduction of “Oracle Database@Azure,” a transformative service that offers customers direct access to Oracle’s database services running on Oracle Cloud Infrastructure (OCI) within Microsoft Azure data centres.
This ambitious initiative promises to deliver the best of both worlds to customers, combining the robust performance, scalability, and workload availability of Oracle Database on OCI with the security, flexibility, and world-class services provided by Microsoft Azure. Notably, it grants customers access to Microsoft’s AI services, including the highly regarded Azure OpenAI.
The partnership aims to provide customers with unprecedented flexibility in choosing where they run their workloads, allowing them to leverage the strengths of both Oracle and Microsoft. It streamlines the cloud procurement and management process, making it easier for organisations to migrate to the cloud and modernise their IT environments.
“This collaboration represents a significant opportunity for organisations to bring their mission-critical applications to the cloud, ushering in a new era of AI-driven innovation,” said Nadella. He emphasised the potential for their expanded partnership to make Microsoft Azure the exclusive provider of Oracle’s database services.
In addition, Ellison acknowledged that many customers already operate within multiple cloud environments. “Microsoft and Oracle have been working together to make it easy for those customers to seamlessly connect Azure Services with the very latest Oracle Database technology. By collocating Oracle Exadata hardware in Azure data centres, customers will experience the best possible database and network performance. We are proud to partner with Microsoft to deliver this best-in-class capability to customers,” he said.
The introduction of Oracle Database@Azure also addresses some of the most significant challenges faced by organisations adopting multicloud architectures. Customers will benefit from:
- More options to move their Oracle databases to the cloud;
- The highest level of Oracle database performance, scale, and availability, as well as feature and pricing parity;
- The simplicity, security, and latency of a single operating environment (data centre) within Azure;
- The ability to build new cloud native applications using OCI and Azure technologies, including Azure’s best-in-class AI services;
- The assurance of an architecture that is tested and supported by two of the most trusted names in the cloud.
Multicloud advantages for customers
The new service offers a fully integrated experience for deploying, managing, and utilising Oracle database instances within Azure, enabling organisations to leverage the strengths of Oracle and Microsoft directly within the Azure portal. It aims to address challenges associated with multicloud adoption, such as disjointed management and complex purchasing processes.
As part of this partnership, customers can deploy Azure services alongside fully managed Oracle Database services within a single data centre. This includes support for Oracle Exadata Database services, Oracle Autonomous Database services, and Oracle Real Application Clusters (RAC). A joint support model has been established to provide rapid response and resolution for mission-critical workloads.
Notably, the purchasing and contracting process has also been streamlined. Customers can acquire Oracle Database@Azure through Azure Marketplace, leveraging existing Azure agreements. They will also be able to maximise their existing Oracle Database license benefits, such as Bring Your Own License and the Oracle Support Rewards programme.
“We are looking to our technology partners to support Vodafone’s strategic focus on customers, simplicity and growth across Europe and Africa,” said Scott Petty, Chief Technology Officer, Vodafone. “This new offering from Oracle and Microsoft does that by enabling us to deliver innovative and differentiated digital services faster and more cost effectively to our customers.”
The Ellison-Nadella rendezvous and their joint announcement mark a significant shift in the tech landscape, as two of the most influential leaders in the industry set aside their historical rivalry to pave the way for a new era of collaboration, innovation, and cloud-powered transformation.
Oracle will operate and manage these OCI services directly within Microsoft’s data centres globally, beginning with regions in North America and Europe.
