Oracle Turns Public Cloud into Natural Data Protection Extension

Cloud Forecast: Where It’s Been and Where It’s Heading

Looking to make it simpler and less expensive to back up data, Oracle today unveiled an update to Oracle StorageTek Virtual Storage Manager System software that enables Oracle customers to back up data and archive directly into the Oracle cloud.

That move comes on the heels of acquiring Ravello Systems, a provider of a nested hypervisor technology that makes it simpler to deploy hybrid cloud computing environments, at a cost of $500 million.

Steve Zivanic, vice president of the Storage Business Group at Oracle, says version 7.0 of StorageTek Virtual Storage Manager System makes it possible for IT organizations to back up and archive data from both mainframes and distributed systems to a common public cloud. In the case of the mainframe in particular, the cost savings associated with not having to locally back up data on to a mainframe platform are substantial, says Zivanic.

For example, Zivanic says backing up and archiving data on the Oracle public cloud would cost roughly one-tenth of a penny per gigabyte per month using Oracle software running on a SPARC system acting as a gateway to the Oracle public cloud.

While Oracle may have gotten off to a late jump in terms of being a provider of public cloud services, it clearly sees hybrid cloud computing as an opportunity to leapfrog competitors. Right now, building and then managing hybrid clouds is a complex endeavor for many IT organizations. But as cloud computing advances, it’s becoming apparent that vendors such as Oracle are increasingly committed to blurring the lines between where one cloud begins and another ends.