I have once again proposed a session at VMworld 2012. This session is titled as follows:
Near Zero Downtime Migration of Oracle Database from Legacy RISC-based UNIX to x86-64 / Linux on VMware vSphere
The reason I believe this session is so important is simple: Every Oracle customer and his dog is desperately trying to get off of expensive, slow, proprietary RISC-based UNIX and onto the x86 environment. The reason for this desperation is simple: Cost. These environments are becoming hideously expensive platforms on which to run Oracle. Huge core counts. And performance is frequently terrible.
For example, EMC IT just replatformed off of their E25K and onto x86 / VBLOCK, in the process improving performance by 2 - 10 X and saving over $7 million per year. Yeah, that's real money.
Trouble is, EMC IT did their migration cold, and it took 16 hours to do so. Many, many Oracle customers have mission critical databases on RISC UNIX which have little or no downtime window. These customers need a migration path off of RISC UNIX which involves minimal downtime.
Another source of trouble: Oracle has such a process, which they refer to as O2O. They offer a service to get the customer off of RISC UNIX and onto x86. But where does the customer end up? Onto ExaData. Not good considering that EMC is the majority incumbent storage company for storing Oracle on RISC-based UNIX. We stand to lose all of these customers to Oracle in other words, if we simply ignore this problem.
The one clear differentiator we have against ExaData: VMware. By migrating the customer off of RISC-based UNIX directly onto VMware vSphere, we innoculate them against ExaData forever. That's because, as we all know, the value proposition for running Oracle under vSphere is very compelling, and quickly becomes addictive once the customer adopts it. vSphere has a high rate of stickiness in other words, especially in Oracle shops.
Bottom line: I think this is the most important subject that we can be talking about right now to Oracle customers.
If you would like to vote for my session, please go to this site (requires a login, but registration is free), and select:
Session Type: Breakout Session
Tracks: Applications
Subtracks: Business Critical Applications
Search: "oracle"
My session is session 1270: Near Zero Downtime Migration of Oracle Database from Legacy RISC-based UNIX to x86-64 / Linux on VMware vSphere
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