Oracle Grid ads hits TV
July 4, 2005
Oracle, flush with over 2 billion
dollars in cash from record-breaking sales, has taken to the
airwaves. I saw the first 30-second commercial on CNN on July
1, 2005, and it was very impressive.
I've always wondered what the great
unwashed thinks about technology commercials, like those classic
Microsoft .net commercials from 2004 that featured cascading racks
of wine crashing to the floor.
To me, it's ironic that Oracles does
not have the name recognition of Microsoft, especially since they
are the second-largest software company in the history of mankind.
Most folks have heard "Oracle", but they aren't really sure what
Oracle is or what they do.
In short, Oracle is addressing this
public awareness issue with some super-slick commercials to increase
their market recognition (I can't believe that the ads are
targeted at customers since they talk about $5,000,000 machines).
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It's good to
see that Oracle has been gaining ground in public awareness
as evidenced by the hilarious SNL skit "Oracle
Conclave 2005" by comedian Will Farrell.
Of course, I suspect that
most of the SNL audience only knew that Oracle was something
nerdish, a vehicle to mock "tools" (in the words of my
college son, a "tool" is a super nerd.). |
The TV ad was very professional,
showing the stack of server bladed connected by a green glowing
"cache fusion" rod going down the center! It was filled with
superlatives like "faster than the fastest mainframe" (sure, I
suppose, if you hook-up 1,000 blades).
It also showed a server failure and
demonstrated the perils of "putting all your eggs in one basket",
showing how Oracle Grid continues to function if a blade fails and
suggesting that the "mainframe" would die. Of course, the
reality is that many of today's UNIX and Linux mainframes are fully
fault tolerant, but hey, it made for a great demonstration.
The market reality is that while Oracle
Grid is an amazing product, only a small number of Oracle database
administrators have mastered the complex technology which requires
an intimate knowledge of Linux (or UNIX) and hardware internals.
While mainstream Oracle technologies cause a flood of books (there
are
60 Oracle10g books according to Amazon), yet there is only
one
book dedicated exclusively to Oracle Grid Computing.
| The commercial closed with
this: Oracle Grid Computing.
Runs faster.
Costs less.
And never breaks.
And never breaks? As a practicing Oracle DBA I know
about the high manpower investment to properly install and
configure Oracle Grid to make it unbreakable, but it's great
new for those who specialize in
installing and
configuring Oracle Grid.. |
 |
Many Oracle experts agree that Oracle grid computing is a remarkable
technology and this television awareness campaign is sure to
increase demand for those super DBA's who have real-world experience
with this robust and complex new technology.
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