Lalit Malik (Oracle)
Partners in Asia Pacific face an uncertain wait for the newly announced Oracle Database@Azure, but it will be worth the wait according to the region’s channel chief.
Lalit Malik, group vice president and head of Asia Pacific channels and alliances, called the announcement “very exciting” for partners and a “huge advantage” for joint customers of the two vendors.
Speaking to ARN during Oracle CloudWorld in Las Vegas, Malik said: “It’s very exciting to be able to offer the Oracle database in the Azure data centre with little to no latency. You can run your applications or data models on Azure: previously you would need to model it. That’s a huge change.”
Microsoft and Oracle have been partners for four years. The latest extension of their partnership sees Oracle’s database hardware, including Oracle Exadata, and software able to run in Microsoft Azure data centres.
This will give partners and customers direct access to Oracle database services running on Oracle Cloud Infrastructure (OCI) via Azure.
Although ARN understands Australia was originally considered for the initial launch of Oracle Database@Azure, the service will instead only be available in Microsoft’s data centres in North America and Europe at present.
Malik was unable to indicate exactly when partners in APAC will gain access to Oracle Database@Azure, it is understood to be very soon.
Announced last week, Oracle Database@Azure offers a fully integrated experience for deploying, managing, and using Oracle database instances in Azure without having to retool applications.
Customers can deploy their Azure services with fully managed Oracle database services within a single data centre to ensure low latency. Oracle will operate and manage the OCI services directly within Microsoft’s data centres globally.
The service includes support for Oracle Exadata Database services, Oracle Autonomous Database services, and Oracle Real Application Clusters (RACs). The duo have developed a joint support model for rapid response and resolution for mission-critical workloads.
In terms of how partners will be remunerated for Oracle Database@Azure, Microsoft vice president for cloud industry Corey Sanders explained that Azure commitments would apply when partners purchase through Oracle.
In terms of credits, these apply based on the different services. “Azure credits apply to the Azure-based services and the Oracle credits to the Oracle-based services,” Sanders added. “You can commission those two, but we are hoping partners to leverage the offers they have.”
Oracle partners will require no additional certifications to run database services on Azure. Microsoft partners will require training on Oracle database services, including migration.
Karan Batta, SVP of Oracle Cloud Infrastructure, noted that an Oracle partner “can come in and help” a Microsoft partner during the migration, but otherwise, neither would experience significant change.
“It shouldn’t change your current plan,” he added. “From a customer perspective, if you’re already working with a partner, then you already have the ability to use and consume our database services.
Eleanor Dickinson attended Oracle CloudWorld as a guest of Oracle.
