If and when Oracle decides to tap VMware and non-Oracle technologies for virtualization, it will be more capable of providing its large base customers with exemplary support. This is the conclusion that Wikibon experts arrived at during their recent Peer Incite meeting with a working theme: Oracle and VMware: Peas in a Pod or Oil and Water? Customers, as early as now, are also suggested to assertively adopt virtualization technologies for Oracle environments.

In his article, Vellante made a recommendation: “By mid-decade, 90% of Oracle-based applications will be virtualized. This inevitability heightens the imperative that organizations begin to formally develop a virtualization plan instead of ad hoc test and dev deployments. Establishing best practices today will serve to ensure that virtualizing Oracle will be both profitable and less risky down the road.”

Vellante also presented pieces of advice on how a customer can maximize Oracle’s virtualization, while taking note of the risks. He made mention of choosing the correct virtualization platform among a vast selection, accurate configuration of system and storage access, tapping consultants for long-term platform decision-making, understanding Oracle’s policies on virtualization or partitioning guidelines, preparing to recreate problems on physical systems, push for VMware support from ISVs, reduction on Oracle dependence and revisiting organizational structure.

Floyer, on the other hand, laid out the risks that CIO should focus on when reviewing whether or not to virtualize mission critical applications. These main areas include sever capacity requirements and applications, application high-availability requirements, applicant ion and data security requirements, potential for optimization or Oracle licensing and application requirement for Oracle and ISV support.

Fresh from winning the case against SAP, Oracle has just recently won two awards in Asian Banker Technology Implementation held in Hong Kong. With the mounting success and number of clients and customers, the need for Oracle to seek virtualization platform outside its backyard as soon as possible is deemed as a good decision. Along with these pundits’ insights, it is believed that the organization’s support for non-Oracle platforms will be highly dependent on how much it is willing to spend.