Oracle has announced the general availability of Oracle Exadata Database Service on Exascale infrastructure for Oracle Database@Azure, strengthening its multicloud strategy alongside Microsoft. This new deployment eliminates the need for dedicated servers, providing customers with the performance and reliability of Exadata with up to a 95% reduction in minimum infrastructure costs. Additionally, in the coming months, Oracle Base Database Service on Oracle Database@Azure will be available, enabling customers to run database workloads on virtual machines with simplified management and on-demand pricing.
The Oracle Database@Azure solution, already present in 14 regions —including France, Germany, Italy, Japan, and the United Kingdom— is now expanding to East U.S. 2 and plans to add 18 new regions in the next 12 months, consolidating its global growth.
Exascale: Exadata Power Adapted for Flexible Cloud
The new Exascale infrastructure on Oracle Database@Azure enables businesses to manage smaller workloads and scale without disruption while maintaining the power of Exadata. Its key benefits include:
- Elastic resources and usage-based billing, with no extra charges for IOPS. This provides a more affordable entry for businesses of any size.
- Intelligent cloud storage that can automatically move hot data to memory or flash, combining DRAM performance with hard drive capacity.
- AI Smart Scan, which accelerates vector search operations by up to 30 times through direct processing in intelligent storage.
- Ultra-fast OLTP transactions, enabled by low-latency RDMA communication between database servers.
- Advanced analytics that deliver performance of up to 2,880 GB/s, transforming SQL-intensive queries into fast and efficient operations.
- Smart clones and instant snapshots, streamlining development and testing in DevOps environments.
This service is available in the Azure Marketplace, both through custom pricing and a pay-as-you-go model. Customers can also benefit from Bring Your Own License (BYOL) and Oracle Support Rewards.
Oracle Base Database Service: Simplicity and Scalability
Coming soon, Oracle and Microsoft will launch Oracle Base Database Service on Oracle Database@Azure, compatible with Oracle Database Enterprise Edition and Standard Edition 2 (versions 19c and 23ai). This solution will offer:
- Automated database lifecycle management.
- Low-code development capabilities.
- Independent scaling of compute and storage, with flexible on-demand pricing.
Exadata X11M: Next-Generation Performance
The dedicated infrastructure of Oracle Exadata Database Service now incorporates Exadata X11M, the latest platform featuring notable improvements for OLTP, analytics, and AI-driven applications. Customers will be able to use this architecture in on-premises environments, hybrid clouds, public clouds, or multiclouds, facilitating the transition without the need for complex redesigns.
Global Expansion to Meet Growing Demand
Currently available in 14 regions, Oracle Database@Azure is preparing to expand to 18 additional regions, including Central Spain, Central Sweden, South India, Central UAE, and Western Europe. This growth reinforces the collaboration between Oracle and Microsoft, offering customers:
- Flexible options for migrating databases to the cloud, with tools like Oracle Zero-Downtime Migration.
- Development of cloud-native applications integrating technologies from Oracle, OCI, and Azure.
- Price parity with OCI to deliver maximum performance and availability.
- Security, low latency, and consistency with on-premises environments to minimize the need for refactoring.
- Unified support and experience between Oracle and Microsoft.
A Comprehensive Approach to Distributed Cloud
Oracle reaffirms its commitment to flexibility and control through its distributed cloud strategy, which includes:
- Public cloud with hyperscale regions, complying with data sovereignty regulations.
- Dedicated cloud through OCI Dedicated Region and partnerships with Oracle Alloy for advanced customization.
- Hybrid cloud, with key on-premises services via Exadata Cloud@Customer.
- Multicloud, with native integration of Oracle Database in AWS, Google Cloud, and Azure, facilitated by Oracle interconnections for seamless hybrid and collaborative environments.
Industry Leader Statements
Pedro Sardo, CIO of Vodafone, commented:
“The ability to combine Oracle Base Database Service with Exadata Database Service in Oracle Database@Azure ensures continuity, streamlines our cloud migration, and maximizes return on investment.”
Brett Tanzer, Vice President of Product Management at Microsoft Azure, added:
“The expansion of services like Exascale and Base Database Service within Oracle Database@Azure gives customers more options for scalability and performance to accelerate innovation.”