Oracle is expected to announce its quarterly earnings later today, and there should be nuggets from all facets of the company’s business.
On the database front, we’ll be looking for any hints about when Oracle Database 12c will be released. The next version of the Oracle Database has been in beta version for a while now. Earlier this year Ellison said that Oracle Database 12c might be released in December or January. Then a statement Sept. 4 regarding Oracle’s support for Intel Itanium-based platforms said that “version 12c of the Oracle database” is “due out in early 2013.” At the same time, there are rumblings that, at the very least, details about 12c could be released at Oracle OpenWorld, which starts Sept. 30. On a side note, if you’re beta testing 12c, email me at mfontecchio@techtarget.com. If you’re not, email me anyway and give me your wish list for 12c.
On the applications front, we will hopefully hear some details on the uptake of Fusion Applications. The next generation of Oracle applications has been generally available for almost a year now, and so Oracle is expected to talk about how successful they have been.
Finally on the hardware side, we will likely hear more about Oracle’s integrated systems. Oracle executives said at the last earnings call that hardware will start to become a “growth story” in this fiscal year, so we’ll see how that has done. We’ll expect some possible talk about the Oracle Database Appliance, which was geared toward medium-sized businesses looking for an integrated database device. There may also be some hints or details about Oracle’s future hardware plans, whether that be the next generation of Exadata or some other new integrated hardware platform.