Enterprises racing to put AI agents into production are learning that real-time data pipelines matter as much as the models. An agent working from a stale subset of corporate records delivers far less than one wired into live, mission-critical data.

That shift is changing how companies decide where their databases run. Oracle Corp. has pushed its database modernization strategy into other clouds, and customers are moving databases next to the applications and AI pipelines they are building, according to Nathan Thomas (pictured), senior vice president of product management for Oracle Cloud Infrastructure at Oracle.

“Customers are defining their AI pipelines, I think from an enterprise business perspective, with an eye towards trust, with an eye towards security,” Thomas said. “They are really looking at, ‘How do I get the mission-critical data into those pipelines?'”

Thomas spoke with theCUBE Research’s Dave Vellante at Oracle AI World, during an exclusive broadcast on theCUBE, SiliconANGLE Media’s livestreaming studio. They discussed how real-time data pipelines help improve agentic AI performance. (* Disclosure below.)

Building real-time data pipelines where the apps already live

Oracle offers its database on its own cloud, on-premises through Cloud@Customer and inside Amazon Web Services Inc., Microsoft Corp.’s Azure and Google LLC’s Google Cloud. Customers rarely ask which cloud to pick, since existing relationships and the location of their applications usually settle the question, Thomas explained.

“They’re usually saying, ‘Hey, I’ve already got a relationship. Let’s put the database where my apps are and where my AI pipelines are,'” Thomas said.

Running the same Exadata hardware everywhere also takes the sting out of migration. AI projects are adding value to database migrations, and a like-for-like hardware move avoids most of the refactoring that once made them so painful, he noted.

“I’m coming from on-prem on an Exadata. I can move into the cloud on an Exadata,” Thomas said. “It’s the same hardware, same environment, same tools, same management, same performance.”

Here’s the complete video interview, part of SiliconANGLE’s and theCUBE’s coverage of Oracle AI World:

(* Disclosure: TheCUBE is a paid media partner for Oracle AI World. Neither Oracle, the sponsor of theCUBE’s event coverage, nor other sponsors have editorial control over content on theCUBE or SiliconANGLE.)

Photo: SiliconANGLE