Microsoft and Oracle Expand Cloud Partnership for Database Services

Oracle Corp and Microsoft Corp have announced Oracle Database@Azure, which gives customers direct access to Oracle database services running on Oracle Cloud Infrastructure (OCI) and deployed in Microsoft Azure datacenters. This cloud partnership entails database services.

Oracle Database@Azure delivers all the performance, scale, and workload availability advantages of Oracle Database on OCI with the security, flexibility, and best-in-class services of Microsoft Azure, including best-in-class AI services like Azure OpenAI. This combination provides customers with more flexibility regarding where they run their workloads. It also provides a streamlined environment that simplifies cloud purchasing and management between Oracle Database and Azure services.

With the introduction of Oracle Database@Azure, Oracle and Microsoft are helping customers accelerate their migration to the cloud, so they can modernize their IT environments and take advantage of Azure’s infrastructure, tooling, and services. Customers will benefit from:

More options to move their Oracle databases to the cloud;

This entails:

1. Unparalleled Oracle database performance, scalability, and availability, matched with feature parity and competitive pricing.
2. Streamlined operations, top-notch security, and minimal latency within a unified Azure datacenter environment.
3. The capability to develop cutting-edge, cloud-native applications by harnessing the strengths of OCI and Azure technologies, including Azure's leading AI services.
4. The confidence of an architecture rigorously tested and backed by two of the most trusted leaders in cloud computing.

“We have a real opportunity to help organizations bring their mission-critical applications to the cloud so they can transform every part of their business with this next generation of AI,” said Satya Nadella, Chairman and CEO, of Microsoft. “Our expanded partnership with Oracle will make Microsoft Azure the only other cloud provider to run Oracle’s database services and help our customers unlock a new wave of cloud-powered innovation.”

“Most customers already use multiple clouds,” said Larry Ellison, Oracle Chairman and CTO. “Microsoft and Oracle have been working together to make it easy for those customers to seamlessly connect Azure Services with the very latest Oracle Database technology. By collocating Oracle Exadata hardware in Azure datacenters, customers will experience the best possible database and network performance. We are proud to partner with Microsoft to deliver this best-in-class capability to customers.”

Multi-cloud Made for Customers

This new offering presents a unified and effortless solution for deploying, overseeing, and harnessing Oracle database instances within Azure. It empowers organizations to tap into their existing knowledge, enabling them to fully exploit the combined capabilities of Oracle and Microsoft directly through the Azure portal.

This service is strategically designed to overcome key challenges associated with adopting multi-cloud architectures, including fragmented management, isolated tools, and a complex procurement process.

As a result of this enhanced collaboration, customers now have the freedom to deploy Azure services alongside fully managed Oracle Database services within a unified datacenter environment. This includes comprehensive support for Oracle Exadata Database services, Oracle Autonomous Database services, and Oracle Real Application Clusters (RAC). Furthermore, Oracle and Microsoft have joined forces to establish a collaborative support model, guaranteeing prompt responses and resolutions for mission-critical workloads.

Additionally, Oracle and Microsoft have significantly simplified the purchasing and contracting process. Customers will be able to purchase Oracle Database@Azure through Azure Marketplace, leveraging their existing Azure agreements. They will also be able to use their existing Oracle Database license benefits including Bring Your License and the Oracle Support Rewards program.

“As we continue our digital transformation through innovation and technology, interoperability across cloud service providers to enable safe, secure, and rapid financial transactions for our 40 million customers is paramount,” said Mihir Shah, enterprise head of data, Fidelity Investments. “Today’s announcement displays how industry leaders Microsoft and Oracle are putting their customers’ interests first and providing a collaborative solution that enables organizations like Fidelity to deliver best-in-class experiences for our customers and meet the substantial compliance and regulatory requirements with minimal downtime.”

“Data is the lifeblood of any business, and the cloud is the best way to analyze it so that insights become actionable,” said Magesh Bagavathi, senior vice president and global chief technology officer, at PepsiCo. “As one of the largest food and beverage companies in the world with a market value of over 200 billion U.S. dollars, the ability to run our mission-critical systems and associated data in the cloud with Oracle Database@Azure gives us a scaled strategic advantage across our global operations.”

“We are looking to our technology partners to support Vodafone’s strategic focus on customers, simplicity, and growth across Europe and Africa,” said Scott Petty, Chief Technology Officer, Vodafone. “This new offering from Oracle and Microsoft does that by enabling us to deliver innovative and differentiated digital services faster and more cost-effectively to our customers.”

“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. 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,” said Santhosh Keshavan, executive vice president and chief information officer, Voya Financial, Inc.

Oracle will operate and manage these OCI services directly within Microsoft’s data centers globally, beginning with regions in North America and Europe.