Oracle Offers A Glimpse Of Upgraded DatabaseOracle Offers A Glimpse Of Upgraded Database

Oracle will raise the curtain a bit on the latest release of its flagship database at its Oracle OpenWorld conference in San Francisco next week. The peek at Oracle9i release 2 comes as the vendor wrestles with slowing database software sales and increasing competition from rivals IBM and Microsoft.

The vendor is building workflow and event-management capabilities into upcoming releases of the database, says Roger Bamford, principal architect of Oracle database architecture. Software vendors typically build these functions into higher-level applications and application server software, but Oracle's strategy is to move such functionality into the database, Bamford says. For example, Oracle9i, which began shipping in July, includes online analytical processing and data-mining technology that Oracle previously offered only as separate products.

Oracle also is developing software to extend the high-availability capabilities of its Real Application Clusters software to enterprise applications, Bamford says. Real Application Clusters is the clustering technology that debuted with Oracle9i. Also on the development schedule is software that makes it easier to manage clustered systems.

Rexall Sundown Inc. in Boca Raton, Fla., has tentative plans to upgrade to Oracle9i early next year. The multivitamin maker is considering using Real Application Clusters for disaster recovery, VP of IT Alan Gloyne says. "We see some major benefits there," he adds.

Still, indicators point to a slow take-off for Oracle9i, which began shipping just as the economy slumped. For its quarter ended Aug. 31, Oracle reported that new database license revenue was down 8% from the same period one year ago, while combined revenue from new database licenses and license updates was down 2%.

During the Gartner Symposium last month, analyst Betsy Burton asked attendees if they had upgraded to Oracle9i. "Only one out of about 400 had it installed and in production," she says.

Burton predicts that less than 10% of Oracle's customer base will use Real Application Clusters by 2006. An Oracle spokesman says the vendor is satisfied with sales of Oracle9i and Real Application Clusters, but he wouldn't disclose sales numbers