Oracle and Microsoft expand partnership to deliver Oracle database services in Azure

Organizations want choice, and nearly all of them are using two or more clouds. But, most workloads are still on-premises, and many of them are Oracle Database workloads. Why?

We believe that customers need greater flexibility with best-in-class technologies to move workloads into the cloud. 97% of the Fortune 100 companies rely on Oracle Database for their most critical workloads. Many of these customers have also invested in Microsoft Azure.

Since 2019, we have partnered with Microsoft to deliver the Oracle Interconnect for Azure, which offers secure, private interconnections with sub-2 millisecond latency in 12 global regions. This multicloud network foundation enabled customers, such as AT&T, Marriott International, and Veritas, to build applications across Oracle Cloud Infrastructure (OCI) and Azure.

We’re excited to share that we’re significantly expanding our partnership with Microsoft to launch a new service called Oracle Database@Azure. With this service, Microsoft and Oracle will deliver the same Oracle database services running on OCI in Microsoft Azure datacenters. Oracle database services in Azure are designed to offer high levels of performance, scale, security, and availability — at parity with what we offer in OCI today. By colocating OCI database services in Azure datacenters, we expect that Oracle Database@Azure will have the same low latencies as other Azure services. You can deploy and manage the service through the existing Azure portal and use Azure developer tools, software development kits (SDKs), and APIs.

With this new offering, we’re making it easier for customers to migrate and modernize their Oracle Database workloads to Azure. With Oracle database services running locally in Azure, you can benefit from proximity to familiar application development tools and frameworks to modernize your workloads and run cloud native applications with direct access to data in Oracle Database with the same security and compliance across the entire solution.

Additionally, customers will be able to purchase these services through the Azure Marketplace and apply their purchases to their Microsoft Azure Consumption Commitment (MACC).

Bringing the power of Oracle Autonomous and Exadata to Azure customers

Leading organizations in every industry have long relied on Oracle Exadata and Oracle Real Application Clusters (RAC) to make the most of their data and to power mission critical applications. Oracle Database@Azure brings these technologies into Azure. Oracle RAC allows you to run a single Oracle Database across multiple servers, providing high availability and enabling horizontal scaling for traditional workloads. Building on this scale-out architecture, Oracle Exadata combines high-performance database servers, low-latency interconnects, and intelligent storage with unique, database-aware software optimizations. It can let you access data with less than 20 microseconds of latency, process tens of millions of operations per second, and analyze petabytes of data. Exadata offers the same functionality on-premises and in the cloud, so you don’t have to redesign and rearchitect your applications.

Migrating and deploying production-grade environments is straightforward. Oracle provides proven database migration strategies, including automated migration solutions like Zero-Downtime Migration (ZDM) and powerful tools like Oracle Data Guard and Oracle GoldenGate. Oracle Database@Azure customers will have access to Oracle RAC for high availability using Exadata hardware. The service will be deployable in multiple availability zones to ensure regional high availability and in cross-region pairs to support cross-geography disaster recovery scenarios.

Simplifying purchasing and operations

The deep Azure integration greatly simplifies purchasing and operations in the following ways:

• Simplified purchasing: You will be able to purchase Oracle Database@Azure in Azure Marketplace, and those purchases will apply to MACC. You’ll also be eligible for Oracle Support Rewards, a program where you can earn rewards that you can use to reduce your Oracle technology license support bill.
• Simplified management: You will be able to manage Oracle databases using native Azure tooling like you would with any other Azure resource.

• Simplified operations: You will be able to use Azure tooling to view all metrics, events, and logs for all Oracle Database@Azure databases.

Oracle and Microsoft are already working with customers, such as PepsiCo, Vodafone, and Voya Financial, to realize this new multicloud reality.

“As a global leader in the financial services industry, Voya has harnessed the power of digital transformation to help provide the best experience for our customers and employees,” said Santhosh Keshavan, executive vice president and chief information officer of Voya Financial, Inc. “As we continue to bring our business applications to the cloud, cloud partnerships have the potential to help the entire industry maintain better security, compliance, and performance, helping to accelerate the development of new technology products, solutions and services that enhance customer experience and help achieve better financial outcomes.”

Conclusion

At Oracle, we’re committed to providing you with the best path to achieve your technology strategies. One of our core tenets is to provide the easiest path for you to migrate your mission critical workloads, many of which have long been powered by Oracle databases. Giving you more flexibility and choice, we will operate and manage the new Oracle Database@Azure directly within Microsoft’s datacenters, starting with regions in the United States, United Kingdom, and Germany, with plans to expand globally. With Oracle Database@Azure, you’ll be able to use your preferred cloud services across your Oracle and non-Oracle workloads to operate, manage, and innovate across them all. To learn more about Oracle Database@Azure, go to our product page for more information.