Oracle has been in the news for all the wrong reasons. Firstly, it was the problem with Java that literally wiped their reputation, and second, it was the falling figures for the first quarter that saw shareholders expressing concern. But through all this, one thing that has held Oracle in good stead it its engineered systems. As a brainchild of Oracle, these systems are vertically integrated appliances that help companies to simplify a plethora of tasks and reap a range of benefits.
The biggest challenge that Oracle is going to face in bringing out these systems is the customers consent. There are a lot of doubts over the performance of these systems and you can discuss the pros and cons of these systems in your Oracle classes.
What Are Engineered Systems
If you are taking Oracle training courses and you have an updated curriculum, you would have read about the engineered systems. These are just a modernized version of mainframes that are faster, mobile, and perform better as well. The hardware components of the mainframes include all the standard components like ‘Infiniband’ connectors, memory, processors, hard disks (spinning type), flash hard drives, power cords, and others. The software components are kernels, file systems, operating systems, middleware, databases, apps, management tools, and hypervisors among others. But the beauty of these systems is that, all of this is in one small, handy, and a reasonably mobile container.
Advantages of Engineered Systems
The fact that these systems are built for heavy-duty usage is the first advantage. These systems can deliver consistently, over a period of time, for a wide range of applications. However, it is not the hardware that drives the customers to engineered systems. According to Oracle, it is the private cloud that the customers get with engineered systems, which make these systems a joy to use. Also, the cloud is maintained and serviced by Oracle with a ‘premier’ support agreement that Oracle has with its customers. You can also discuss the pros and cons of having this associated cloud service in your Oracle courses to help you understanding the technology better.
Since all the IT is in the engineered systems, and there is no need to build up an IT structure with components from different manufacturers, the testing and validation is virtually non-existent while using engineered systems. Also, the system would be open to software upgrades or changes, which was not the case in the past. Systems were very sensitive to changes. Oracle has also been releasing patches every quarter for their systems. Multiple levels of stack are monitored, and errors are detected. Oracle also gives a 5-minute response time guarantee, to the customers in case of any issues.
Hardware Sales Not Very Encouraging
Although Oracle has been aggressively pushing out its new hardware into the market, the sales figures look average and this is not a very encouraging sign. The company posted some impressive figures in 2012, but 2013 has not been very good, at least until now.
The company’s all-in-one servers are finding less number of takers as the competition in that particular segment of the market is intense. Oracle has said that ‘Exalogic’ sales have been doubling every year and ‘Exadata’ is still relatively new in the market. But one particular product that has been doing very well is the Oracle Database Appliance. Smaller customers are finding it more to their liking, and Oracle has also been generating a lot of revenue in providing support for these smaller customers as well.
Support is Oracle’s Big Market
Experts believe that Oracle does not have to make record sales to register profits in the coming quarters. All they need to do is find a handful of customers for its bigger products and strike out a long term deal that will cover support and service. This will ensure that Oracle will have its hands full in terms of customer base and business, as support for these huge Oracle systems will not be an easy task to handle.
Engineered Systems Are a Calculated Risk
There is no doubt about the fact that engineered systems, although a revolutionary and enticing prospect, are still a risky proposition. Customers are just waiting for others to implement it and look at the initial reaction before they take the plunge. But with a company that boasts of a world class support system like Oracle, customers are not likely to have a lot of problems. It is only a matter of taking the first step, before people start accepting the concept of engineered systems.
Oracle’s engineered systems have a lot of potential to succeed in the market. But the big question is whether the customers will accept and implement the systems first.
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