back to article Oracle readies Exalogic 2.0 'engineered systems'

Software giant Oracle is not so much in the server business as it is in the stack business, and it has made no pretense about it whatsoever. In fact, the company has gone out of its way to remind Wall Street and customers alike that it has no desire to be in the volume x86 server business, but rather bought Sun Microsystems two …

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  1. Morten Bjoernsvik

    RIP SPARC?

    We all know the 10x boost comes from replacing sparc with x86_64.

    1. Anonymous Coward
      Anonymous Coward

      Re: RIP SPARC?

      Yes, it is dead.

      According to Oracle's benchmarks, Sparc is the best performing chip for Java in the world. Exalogic runs nothing but Java. Exalogic runs on x86. End of contradiction.

  2. apleszko

    $7.4bn way too expensive to buy a x86 commodity server maker...

    "...but rather bought Sun Microsystems two and a half years ago (yes, it has been that long since the $7.4bn deal closed) to create what it calls "engineered systems"...."

    Since Sun's acquisition was obviously not about SPARC whatsoever (unless to kill it), it was a very high price for a commodity x86 server maker. Nothing on Oracle's Exa* appliances have any exclusive HW advantage, it's only software features that are exclusive only due to commercial purposes!!

    At least $6bn of the total were only about Java software and patent assets...

    1. Anonymous Coward
      Anonymous Coward

      Re: $7.4bn way too expensive to buy a x86 commodity server maker...

      True, Oracle wanted Java to ensure that Apache/RH would not eventually give away what is currently their WebLogic application server and MySQL to ensure that Sun would not give away what is their Oracle DB market. It was a defensive play with the possibility of making some patent licensing cash. They were trying to punt Sun's hardware assets off until they realized there were not going to be any takers. Engineered systems was a Plan B.

  3. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    Apply the same logic to others...

    --- RIP SPARC? ---

    Power 7+ is almost a year late.

    People should say POWER is dead every time IBM releases a new system with Intel chips.

    SPARC lives on, from Oracle as well as Fujitsu.

    --- Engineered systems was a Plan B ---

    Oracle sold engineered systems BEFORE the Sun purchase.

    People should say Oracle selling engineered systems as a strategy.

    Oracle continues to make announcements of engineered systems.

    OK - real questions from anyone with a clue?

    1. Anonymous Coward
      Anonymous Coward

      Re: Apply the same logic to others...

      Most absurd thing I have ever read.

      Power7+ is not almost a year late. IBM releases new chips every three years with a + clock speed kicker at the end of year two. If you follow the timeline, that would be the end of 2012/early 2013 for Power 7+. Power 8 will be released, like clockwork, in late 2013.

      Power processors, and z CPUs, run in IBM's high end systems. Yes, they have x86 for Windows and lower end workloads, but Power, and z, are the high end, flagship systems for mission critical, high performance.

      "SPARC lives on, from Oracle as well as Fujitsu."

      As Oracle is killing Sparc64, current M Series, that takes away Fujitsu's largest resell market. Fujitsu's Sparc business is really small anyway.

      "Oracle sold engineered systems BEFORE the Sun purchase."

      Yes, they did. It was also BEFORE they owned a chip set which they are claiming is the best in the world for everything but integer math. Totally absurd if you look at the config they used for their benchmarks and they have since been fined by for misrepresenting their benchmark results, but, nevertheless, if they have they best processor for Java in the world, why wouldn't they use it? They just like cutting checks to their competitor?

      As was mentioned above, why did they need anything Sun related to continue to make engineered systems? There is zero Sun IP in their Exa systems other than the logo.

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