OpenWorld: Oracle to deliver VMware-ready software

SAN FRANCISCO - Oracle and VMware  are developing an easier way to install and configure Oracle's software, executives from the two companies said at the Oracle OpenWorld conference Thursday.

Under a partnership arrangement expected to be announced next week, Oracle plans to distribute and support versions of its software designed to run in the VMware virtual server environment. The database giant will also standardize its internal development on VMware.

"What it means for the customer is that when we release the product, we will release the standard CD version and we will release versions which are VMware-ready," said Prem Kumar, vice president of Oracle's server technologies division. Oracle's database, application server, collaboration suite and management software will all be distributed in this fashion, he said.

Kumar's 4,000 person group is now using VMware as a standard part of its software development process, which means that VMware customers will receive a better level of support from the database giant, VMware said.

Oracle supports and distributes its server software for a wide variety of systems, including those based on Intel, Sun Microsystems, and IBM processors. VMware's virtualization software, which can mimic the role of a hardware server, will be added to this list in the first half of 2005.

"We are being treated like any other hardware platform right now," said Diane Greene, president of VMware, which is operated as an independent subsidiary of EMC. "This is actually a profound new way to let people get their software," she said.

Instead of running an install wizard and then configuring Oracle's software on their computer, users who are running the VMware software will instead be able to download a VMware file that will contain both the Linux operating system, as well as a pre-configured version of Oracle's software that will be immediately ready to run.

This product is particularly useful for developers who will be able to test and tinker with Oracle's software in a virtual environment. Any changes they make in the virtual environment will not affect the underlying operating system.

EMC's acquisition of VMware has proved to be a good move for the company, said EMC CEO Joe Tucci, speaking at a keynote address at the Oracle conference Thursday. VMware's sales have been growing at over 100 percent per year, and the software company is now on track to reach sales of $250 million, Tucci said.

In addition to the added security and ease-of-use benefits that come with running software in a virtual environment, VMware's ability to run a number of virtual server environments in tandem lets customers get more use out of their systems, Tucci said.

The average user running server software on Intel's x86 processors uses about 15 percent of the system resources, Tucci said. "We've seen customer after customer installation where we can easily drive this to 60 to 80 percent and even higher."