Oracle is driving its multicloud ambitions forward by taking its Oracle Database@Azure product farther, with more of its database-optimized infrastructure directly inside Microsoft Azure data centers. Its new expansion puts Oracle Exadata Database Service on Exascale Infrastructure in 14 Azure regions, with a further 18 added this year. Four or five of those will be based in Europe, augmenting Oracle’s increasing presence in the cloud computing arena.
Through its placement of Exadata hardware within Microsoft’s data centers, Oracle hopes to simplify cloud migration for companies already dependent on its database technology while tapping into Azure’s wider ecosystem.
With this partnership, businesses gain the ability to use Oracle’s powerful database technology for managing important tasks. Additionally, they can effortlessly integrate with Microsoft’s AI, analytics, and security services to enhance their operations.
Karan Batta, a senior vice president at Oracle Cloud Infrastructure, emphasized the importance of this development. He explained that Exascale Infrastructure was specifically built to provide a highly flexible, multi-tenant cloud solution. This means it can accommodate organizations of all sizes, offering them a robust and adaptable platform to meet their unique needs. Microsoft’s Brett Tanzer concurred, pointing out high demand across the globe for Oracle Database@Azure and the additional flexibility the integration offers.
Launched in September 2023, the Oracle Database@Azure initiative has gone live in the Azure East US region in Virginia in December of the same year. The newest addition to the service, located in Microsoft’s Azure East US 2 region, adds further to Oracle’s footprint in Azure infrastructure.
With Oracle gear taking up not only racks but entire rows of data center real estate, Microsoft is making a big wager on this alliance even as its Azure operations currently face capacity limitations. As Microsoft’s CFO Amy Hood explained, Azure is running near the lower end of its guidance for available capacity today, but Tanzer confirmed that Microsoft does not see Oracle’s presence as a competing priority, but as a key part of its cloud and AI strategy.
As companies continue to grapple with the complexities of cloud migration, this growing collaboration between Oracle and Microsoft provides customers with another set of options to bring their database and AI workloads together under a single cloud environment. With further expansions on the horizon, Oracle’s multicloud strategy appears well-placed to define the future of enterprise cloud computing.
