UPDATED 18:00 EDT / SEPTEMBER 29 2014

3 years and 180-degrees later, Oracle turns to cloud | #OOW14

Oracle OpenWorldOracle Corp. has made some big transformations in the three years since it decided to focus on cloud offerings. theCUBE co-hosts Jeff Frick and John Furrier discussed the changes on which Oracle has been focused in their kickoff of SiliconANGLE’s live event coverage at this week’s Oracle OpenWorld conference.

Furrier explained that he is “seeing meat on the bone” as Oracle amps up its cloud offerings. With 29 new Software as a Service (SaaS) products, a focus on data security, mobile, social media, and Big Data, Oracle is seeking to disrupt competition at an infrastructure level, Furrier suggested. Offering low cost services and orchestration have been essential for Oracle to commodify infrastructure. Oracle is also investing in human capital management, said Furrier, going directly after their competitor, Salesforce.

The “engagement cloud”

 

Oracle’s “new front,” remarked Furrier, is “mobile, social, and Big Data.” Oracle’s previous investments support new apps, but also will help Oracle bring all its apps to the cloud, enabling customers to access “native Oracle in the cloud.”

While Amazon.com, Inc. spearheaded the great cloud migration, Frick suggested that many companies will begin to shift their focus to the cloud — he called out the recently concluded Inforum conference hosted by Infor, Inc., where theCUBE learned of Infor’s own refreshed strategy, largely focused on bringing apps to the cloud. Frick explained that he believes these moves validate “cloud as an enterprise delivery vehicle.”

Oracle is unique in that the company designs hardware and software at the same time, Furrier said. As it executes its plans, Oracle needs to tackle bringing software and hardware integration to the cloud while remaining grounded in Big Data, mobile, and social.

 

  • Relevant history of Oracle’s participation in cloud

Three years ago, Furrier commented, Oracle was facing trailing earnings — it was in a lull. The company underwent an “absolute transformation” when it began shifting its entire business to cloud infrastructure. Founder Larry Ellison jump-started the cloud strategy at Oracle, said Furrier. Ellison’s “cloud mojo” helped Oracle ensure that his company won’t give up its market share to Amazon without a fight.

 


A message from John Furrier, co-founder of SiliconANGLE:

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