On the dawn of Oracle Openworld Huawei has announced an agreement with Oracle that sees the two companies deepen ties. The cooperation memorandum was actually signed more than a week ago at Huawei Connect 2016. The agreement will see Oracle Database 12c loaded onto Huawei’s flagship Kunlen server. Huawei launched the Kunlun server in March this year. Since Huawei announced SAP as a launch partner there has been little noise about sales from the two companies.
Huawei also announced at their conference, that an agreement with Infosys was reached. The Oracle announcement will see enterprises able to decide whether they want to use the complete Oracle stack or hardware from alternate vendors. Unlike the announcement with SAP, it appears as though no comparisons were completed between hardware platforms. As the Kunlun supports 32 Terabytes of memory it does, apparently, offer “stunning performance.”
Integrated offering improves reliability
What the release does say is that Oracle database solutions and the Huawei hardware platform offers a solution that delivers openness without sacrificing reliability. The Huawei Reliability, Availability, and Serviceability (RAS) 2.0 technology combined with the Predictive Failure Analysis Engine (PFAE) and Oracle’s mature Maximum Availability Architecture (MAA) delivers a complete end to end solution.
The two solutions also offer an improved security environment. The Huawei Kunlun server has hardened interconnect and management chips to inhibit CPU loopholes. Oracle added database firewalls and other application security layers to deliver a secure platform.
Qiu Long, President of the Huawei IT Server Product Line commented: “Huawei and Oracle complement each other well, and, more importantly, we work towards the same goals. That is, to help enterprises be better positioned for digital transformation and to reduce the complexity of the process. Each as the best in its domain, we now work together to present solutions that will empower our customers to achieve bigger success with their businesses.”
Are Oracle giving upon hardware?
So why is Oracle partnering with a hardware company on the day Ellison announced Oracle IaaS as a major play? The answer may lie in the Asian and China market. Oracle may not wish (or be able) to ship its servers into China. Thers is a risk its IP will be compromised there. Instead it has partnered with Huawei, who can deliver a strong solution and not just in China. Huawei is growing steadily and if Oracle did not partner with the Chinese giant they may find that decisions on software go against them. Huawei is growing strongly in both Asia and EMEA. In 2015, revenues reached ¥167 billion in China and ¥128 billion in EMEA, almost doubling the 2012 figures.
Wu Chengyang, Vice President of Oracle and General Manager of its Technical Product Business Unit in the Greater China Region commented: “The Oracle Database 12c consolidates multiple databases quickly and effortlessly to unleash unprecedented analytical performance for customers. Oracle orchestrates superior in-memory data processing capabilities and novel database techniques to redefine the efficiency, performance, security, and availability of databases. Working with Huawei, we place more options in the hands of our customers.”
Conclusion
This announcement, timed for Openworld, shows that Oracle are still open to partnerships with the right companies. This alliance will see the Oracle PaaS revenue grow without relying on Oracle’s cloud, hardware or software sails. This is a sensible move by Oracle. It will help them to penetrate several global markets including government, finance, communications and utilities.
