Microsoft and Oracle may compete head to head in many ways within the database realm, but today the two companies performed the most sweeping cross-join ever as executives from the two companies announced a broad partnership around cloud computing. In a conference call this afternoon, Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer and Oracle President Mark Hurd discussed a partnership between the companies that will bring Oracle platforms—including Java middleware—into Microsoft's Azure cloud.
Oracle has moved to certify and support its products, including Oracle WebLogic, the Oracle database, and Oracle Linux, for Azure and Microsoft's Hyper-V hypervisor. "At the highest level, this partnership extends Oracle's support of Windows Server to also include Windows Hyper-V and Windows Azure as supported platforms," Ballmer said.
Oracle will provide full license mobility, Ballmer added, so that customers can move existing Oracle software licenses from on-premises physical or virtual servers to virtual servers on Hyper-V and in the Azure cloud. "There's an immediate benefit for our customers," he said. Support of Oracle's database and application server products, and of Oracle Linux, is available immediately starting today.
Microsoft also agreed to license Oracle's enterprise Java run-time and APIs and make Java "a first class runtime in Windows Azure, fully licensed and fully supported by Oracle" according to Satya Nadella, Microsoft's president of Microsoft Corporation’s Server and Tools Business. Previously, Microsoft offered open Java SDKs, he said. "Now we have the licensed Java stack, plus the middleware stack, available. We think it makes Java more first class within Azure."
Hurd said that in addition to allowing existing licenses to be moved into the Azure cloud, Microsoft would provide a mechanism to obtain licenses on demand "for those who don't have licenses for Oracle or Java." Nadella emphasized that Microsoft would "make it easier to spin up Oracle software in Azure with pay-as-you-go licenses," including pre-built Oracle Linux images that can be deployed in Azure as server instances.
Oracle has been pursuing its own cloud strategy, but Hurd said he saw "nothing but good" coming from a partnership with Microsoft. "I think it just makes sense for us to continue to improve our capabilities but also form partnerships like this," he said. "Java is the most popular development platform in the world. The fact that more people will get access to our IP is favorable."
Oracle has moved to certify and support its products, including Oracle WebLogic, the Oracle database, and Oracle Linux, for Azure and Microsoft's Hyper-V hypervisor. "At the highest level, this partnership extends Oracle's support of Windows Server to also include Windows Hyper-V and Windows Azure as supported platforms," Ballmer said.
Oracle will provide full license mobility, Ballmer added, so that customers can move existing Oracle software licenses from on-premises physical or virtual servers to virtual servers on Hyper-V and in the Azure cloud. "There's an immediate benefit for our customers," he said. Support of Oracle's database and application server products, and of Oracle Linux, is available immediately starting today.
Microsoft also agreed to license Oracle's enterprise Java run-time and APIs and make Java "a first class runtime in Windows Azure, fully licensed and fully supported by Oracle" according to Satya Nadella, Microsoft's president of Microsoft Corporation’s Server and Tools Business. Previously, Microsoft offered open Java SDKs, he said. "Now we have the licensed Java stack, plus the middleware stack, available. We think it makes Java more first class within Azure."
Hurd said that in addition to allowing existing licenses to be moved into the Azure cloud, Microsoft would provide a mechanism to obtain licenses on demand "for those who don't have licenses for Oracle or Java." Nadella emphasized that Microsoft would "make it easier to spin up Oracle software in Azure with pay-as-you-go licenses," including pre-built Oracle Linux images that can be deployed in Azure as server instances.
Oracle has been pursuing its own cloud strategy, but Hurd said he saw "nothing but good" coming from a partnership with Microsoft. "I think it just makes sense for us to continue to improve our capabilities but also form partnerships like this," he said. "Java is the most popular development platform in the world. The fact that more people will get access to our IP is favorable."