Oracle Announces x86 Server Refresh

This IDC Insight focuses on Oracle's announcement of a fairly significant refresh of its erstwhile Sun's x86 server product range on June 28. Oracle's product refresh announcement is pleasantly surprising, because it strongly reaffirms its commitment to the general purpose x86 server market while at the same time continuing to build highly optimized hardware and software solution stacks, such as the Exadata. In the months after formally completing the merger, Oracle made a big splash with Exadata — Exadata's highly optimized and scalable database and business intelligence (BI) system use x86 server building blocks that leverage Sun's core IP, such as flash memory, accelerator, and Oracle's middleware and database software assets.

Oracle's updated x86 server product range is based on Intel's recently announced multicore processors, Xeon 56XX (Westmere-EP) and Xeon 75XX (Nehalem EX). While mainly an upgrade in Intel's microchip technology, these servers continue the theme "Oracle x86 Cluster Strategy," which was first promoted in early 2010. However, Oracle has also upgraded its control systems, especially with regard to its grid architecture, by introducing a new 72-port controller, vastly increasing the size of the grid architecture. The new product announcements are: