Oracle has introduced a new suite of enhancements for Oracle AI Database with a very specific goal: to reinforce the availability and security of the most critical workloads without requiring customers to redesign their applications. Announced at Oracle AI World Tour New York on April 9, 2026, this update marks a significant evolution in their operational continuity strategy, introducing a Platinum level for critical workloads and a new Diamond level for ultra-critical environments.
Oracle’s major commercial promise lies in recovery times. The company guarantees that Oracle AI Database 26ai on Exadata can provide Platinum-tier availability with disaster failover typically under 30 seconds, even in high-performance multi-node clusters. For the most demanding scenarios, Oracle states that Oracle Distributed AI Database and Oracle GoldenGate enable a Diamond-tier level with failover usually within three seconds.
This leap isn’t from zero. Oracle notes that many large enterprises and governments already operate at their Gold-tier level, based on Real Application Clusters and Active Data Guard, with recovery times of seconds for single-node applications and low minutes for high-performance multi-node clusters. The new development is that now there’s a pathway to upgrade to Platinum without application modifications and, according to the vendor, at no additional cost beyond updating database software and Exadata.
Practically, the Platinum level leverages several technical improvements in Oracle AI Database 26ai. Oracle highlights a Data Guard Failover/Switchover up to 4 times faster than in Oracle Database 19c, remote transfers of Active Data Guard up to 2 times faster without encryption and up to 9 times faster with encryption, faster recovery in Oracle RAC, reduced CPU overhead in Transparent Application Continuity, and the use of True Cache to accelerate reads and maintain access to cached data during primary site outages.
The Diamond level goes a step further and is designed for applications where even seconds of downtime are unacceptable, such as real-time payments, telecommunications, or global trading platforms. It is built on an active-active architecture using Oracle AI Database 26ai, Exadata, RAC, Active Data Guard, Zero Data Loss Recovery services, and logical replication via GoldenGate 26ai or Oracle Globally Distributed AI Database. Previous technical documentation positioned this architecture with an RTO of 0 to 10 seconds and nearly zero data loss.
Beyond availability, Oracle emphasizes security, especially in response to two pressing sector threats: the rise of AI agents accessing sensitive data and the medium-term threat of quantum computing. One innovation is Oracle Deep Data Security, a capability that applies declarative, granular authorization and visibility policies directly within the database, based on user identity, role, and context. Oracle presents this as a way to prevent AI agents acting on behalf of users from viewing other users’ information, thus reducing data leakage at the source.
The other major security enhancement is post-quantum cryptography. Oracle asserts that Oracle AI Database 26ai already supports pre-quantum preparations through a quantum-resistant hybrid key exchange over TLS 1.3, AES-256 encryption for data protection, and “quantum-safe” public key algorithms for authentication and digital signatures. This is a very relevant consideration: NIST finalized its first three major post-quantum cryptography standards in August 2024 and has recommended that administrators begin transitioning ASAP to mitigate the risks of the “harvest now, decrypt later” model.
Additionally, Oracle introduced Database Security Central, a centralized console to monitor risks related to privileged users, exposure of sensitive data, and configuration drift in on-premises environments. It also enhanced its Zero Data Loss Recovery solutions with new features like Virtual Air Gap and encrypted copy compression. The company emphasizes that these functionalities are designed to improve resilience against ransomware and speed up recovery for critical data assets.
Overall, the announcement clearly signals Oracle’s intention for its database to be viewed not just as an enterprise AI platform but as an infrastructure for operations where downtime is a business cost rather than an annoyance. The combination of extreme high availability, active-active replication, granular AI-agent security, and post-quantum readiness targets key sectors: banking, payments, telecommunications, critical commerce, and any environment where seconds matter. It remains to be seen how much of this promise translates into real-world deployments without added complexity, but Oracle’s strategic message has been firmly delivered.
Frequently Asked Questions
What is the new Platinum level of Oracle AI Database?
It’s the new availability level for critical workloads in Oracle AI Database 26ai on Exadata. Oracle claims it enables disaster failover typically under 30 seconds, even in high-performance multi-node clusters, without application changes.
What does the Diamond level offer compared to Platinum?
Diamond is aimed at ultra-critical workloads and adds an active-active architecture with logical replication and recovery services to achieve zero data loss and recovery times usually below three seconds.
Why is Oracle now emphasizing post-quantum security?
Because the industry is beginning to prepare for the risk that today’s encrypted data could be broken in the future by quantum computers. NIST finalized its main first standards for post-quantum cryptography in 2024 and recommended starting the transition as soon as possible.
What is Oracle Deep Data Security?
It’s a new security capability in Oracle AI Database 26ai that enforces fine-grained controls for authorization and visibility directly within the database based on identity, roles, and context, also helping to limit what AI agents and RAG flows can see.
via: oracle