Networking Nuggets and Security Snippets

Jon Oltsik

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First Impressions from Oracle Open World

Highlights on hardware, data centers, and Larry

By joltsik on Wed, 09/22/10 - 12:32pm.

. What's this?

I'm here in San Francisco for Oracle Open World. Just arrived but I already have some first impressions.

1. There are signs, billboards, and brochures boasting about Oracle's commitment to integrated hardware and software. This is the ultimate irony to an industry old-timer like me as Oracle led the open systems charge in the 1990s, lambasting Digital Equipment and IBM for its autocratic systems control. I'll have to poke around for some old Oracle ads and compare them to its new integrated stack mantra.

2. VMware is here and if I stop by its booth, I get a free Espresso. Funny thing is that as far as I know, Oracle doesn't support its apps or databases running on top of VMware. Based upon ESG Research, I believe that within 2 years or so, large organizations will run Oracle virtualization infrastructure to run Oracle workloads next to VMware, Xen, or Hyper-V workloads. When this happens, I can't imagine VMware will be very visible at Oracle Open World, let alone spring for coffee.

3. Rumor has it that Oracle will either announce its own Ethernet switch or buy one of the remaining independents. Personally, I hope Oracle doesn't go down this road and decides to work with everyone else.

4. I fully expect Oracle to jump much deeper into the security waters. This is becoming a requirement for being in the systems business.

5. Michael Dell spoke this morning about virtualization in the data center. Application and database folks used to refer to this stuff as "plumbing." Why do they care now? Because distributed applications with huge Hadoop backends need to be tuned with virtual servers, networks, and storage I/O in mind.

6. I'm looking for Oracle to be one of the leaders that transform today's monolithic enterprised-focused identity management technology to a more web-friendly democratic model.

7. It's funny that after Larry ripped apart cloud computing as nothing but industry hype, many vendors are here at OOW preaching, you guessed it, cloud computing.

More soon, time to walk the floor and get indoctrinated.

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About Networking Nuggets and Security Snippets

Jon Oltsik is a principal analyst at Enterprise Strategy Group responsible for the networking and security services at ESG. Prior to joining ESG, Jon was the founder and principal of Hype-Free Consulting. Mr. Oltsik previously served as VP of Marketing & Strategy at GiantLoop Network where he managed all marketing activities and defined the company’s strategic vision. Jon was also a Senior Analyst at Forrester Research where he covered a wide range of infrastructure and IT topics. In this role, he was frequently quoted in business journals, including the Wall Street Journal, Business Week, and the New York Times, and was also the recipient of a prestigious "best research" award for his breakthrough report, "The Internet Computing Voyage."