The Oracle Oracle

Can Sun still shine for Oracle?

Martin Mutch — Wed, 02 Jan 2013 10:53:58 GMT

Oracle announced its Q2 earnings as most of us were winding down for the festive season and broadly speaking it outperformed expectation, particularly in new software sales and cloud subscriptions which grew 18% in constant currency. Last quarter Oracle started...

Oracle on its knees?

Martin Mutch — Wed, 11 Jul 2012 10:58:27 GMT

It wasn’t long ago that Oracle looked invincible - on the path to global IT domination. It overcame the European Court of Justice blocker over its Sun acquisition after it outmanoeuvred Neelie Kroes of the European Commission; it controlled Java...

Oracle rushes out its good news, but can scarcely conceal its concerns

Martin Mutch — Wed, 20 Jun 2012 16:49:36 GMT

Even by Oracle's maverick standards, suddenly bringing forward its Q4 earnings call was a curve ball. At face value it could be suggested that it thought its full year results, generally outperforming expectations, were worth getting out quickly? No, nothing...

Oracle in the wars?

Martin Mutch — Wed, 06 Jun 2012 09:04:14 GMT

Larry Ellison took time out of the Oracle year end frenzy last week and during an interview at a conference, talked about yachts, the competition and generally amused himself. We also like to take stock at this time of year...

The UK Cabinet Office finally cuts a deal with Oracle

Martin Mutch — Wed, 28 Mar 2012 15:46:09 GMT

Way back in November 2010 I blogged here that Oracle and the Cabinet Office had announced a new MOU. I questioned why no one knew any details or where the savings would come from. I now almost stand corrected -...

Will Oracle meet Q3 expectations?

Martin Mutch — Wed, 14 Mar 2012 15:55:12 GMT

Oracle will announce its Q3 results on 20 March against a backdrop of missing analyst expectations in its Q2 earnings call. Oracle was on a march for most of 2011 with its tidal wave of acquisitions driving growth and domination....

Is Oracle falling from grace?

Tue, 31 Jan 2012 10:57:15 GMT

At its last quarterly earnings call Oracle sent analysts reeling with the shock announcement that it missed expectations by around 10%, the first such shock in over 10 years. The miss was attributed to delayed deal approvals, particularly with Exadata...

Oracle FY12 Q2 earnings call preview...

Sun, 18 Dec 2011 08:56:33 GMT

As Oracle concludes its H1, we look back at six months of Oracle ‘Rock ‘n Roll’ and anticipate its earnings announcement. It’s certainly been eventful. Battle Stats The combative Ellison has not shied away from conflict over the last half...

Oracle Fusion - The emerging truth, part II

Sat, 12 Nov 2011 10:41:22 GMT

In part I, I considered the journey Oracle has taken in its Fusion development. However, previously described as ‘gibberish’ by Larry Ellison, the cloud was about to make its mark. Oracle has changed their stance on cloud. Two years ago,...

Oracle Fusion - The emerging truth, part I

Thu, 10 Nov 2011 14:31:41 GMT

The concept of Fusion came from a reactionary and hostile acquisition of PeopleSoft, after PeopleSoft itself acquired JD Edwards and the Oracle applications business was therefore relegated to third or even fourth place in the global applications vendor league. Even...

When Oracle faces cloud oblivion...

Fri, 21 Oct 2011 08:23:06 GMT

Oracle suddenly have a lot to say about ‘cloud’, certainly in comparison to a year or so ago when Larry blustered about what nonsense the whole cloud movement was. ‘Gibberish’ was the technical term he called upon. Oracle is predictable...

Oracle to buy HP? Too strange to happen

Mon, 10 Oct 2011 12:28:12 GMT

In part I of my post on Oracle and HP, I detailed some pretty compelling reasons why an HP/Oracle takeover could be more likely than you’d suspect. But now, I’ve a confession to make - it seems doubtful... I have...

All eyes on Oracle Q1 results

Thu, 15 Sep 2011 13:21:31 GMT

Global economic turmoil and the threat of a worldwide double dip recession is certainly creating an interesting landscape for Oracle to report its Q1 earnings. Tech stocks have been battered over recent months and Oracle's ever-increasing rise in market capitalisation...

Oracle to buy HP? Stranger things have happened

Mon, 05 Sep 2011 11:45:12 GMT

Leo Apotheker’s recent unveiling of the HP strategy to focus on software and services and sell off the device and printer business units has triggered a fascinating dance in the tech sector. Here is a look at the basics and...

Stack Wars: Episode V - The Enterprise Strikes Back

Mon, 22 Aug 2011 10:10:34 GMT

After part 1, looking at Oracle’s stake in a Red on Red future, it’s time to take a look at how the war is heating up. All vendors realise that the Stack Wars outcome, currently being fought on the Enterprise...

Stack Wars: Episode IV - A new hope (for Red on Red)

Martin Mutch — Mon, 25 Jul 2011 01:59:07 GMT

Flash back to yesteryear - an old CIO client called me recently for no reason other than a LinkedIn prompt. It had been over 15 years since we had last met, so I popped in to see him for a...

The Government re-groups its forces in the war on spend

Martin Mutch — Thu, 14 Jul 2011 11:29:40 GMT

Back in November, I commented on the lack of transparency in MOUs agreed between the Cabinet Office and the Government’s largest IT suppliers. I expressed doubt that the Cabinet Office MOUs would demonstrate concessions by the major enterprise software...

The Government re-groups its forces in the war on spend

Mike Simons — Thu, 14 Jul 2011 09:27:46 GMT

Observations for Oracle

Martin Mutch — Thu, 30 Jun 2011 23:34:22 GMT

Oracle’s full year results for FY11 were more or less as analysts expected, with strong growth in new license sales of 23% proving that Oracle’s core hunting business is still going well. Market domination This remarkable growth coupled with strong...

Oracle closes its year and starts counting

Martin Mutch — Wed, 01 Jun 2011 14:47:30 GMT

In our last blog we looked at the observations of Oracle’s behaviour in the field, more specifically the 4P’s; Product, Position, Promotion and Pricing, to help predict their FY11 earnings. We concluded that Safra Catz, Co-President and CFO, probably...

Will Oracle hit its FY11 year end earnings expectations?

Martin Mutch — Mon, 09 May 2011 10:11:58 GMT

In recent years, we’ve been pretty successful in predicting how Oracle’s in-market activities will translate into earning statements. One of the key analysis tools which has made this possible is the 4 Ps assessment; here we share our observations...

The hardware honey trap

Martin Mutch — Tue, 12 Apr 2011 08:51:30 GMT

After Oracle’s Q3 earnings figures were released last week, it has been interesting to reflect further on the impact of Oracle becoming a hardware business after its acquisition of Sun. As I predicted, Oracle hardware sales were not particularly impressive...

Oracle support frustrations: SIA it as it is

Martin Mutch — Wed, 23 Mar 2011 15:38:32 GMT

A client was sharing a thought with me yesterday. He had recently begun to think his organisation was being shaped into becoming a long-term revenue generating mechanism for Oracle, rather than simply paying to use their software and hardware. Having...

Still staring at the Sun? - Part Two

Martin Mutch — Mon, 21 Feb 2011 11:30:01 GMT

In part one, we went through the setup to Oracle’s Sun acquisition, and the delays caused by the European Commission. In this post, we’ll be taking a deeper look at the impact of the Sun acquisition on today’s competitive...

Still staring at the Sun?

Martin Mutch — Fri, 18 Feb 2011 13:01:15 GMT

It’s surprising to think that it was only as recently as 2008, when IBM approached Sun with a view to acquire it. HP was the only other vendor in the running for the takeover. At the time of IBM’s acquisition...