Oracle outlines storage plans following Pillar acquisition

One day after announcing its intention to acquire Pillar Data Systems, Oracle laid out its plans to incorporate the storage specialist into its enterprise server lineup.

First announced by Oracle earlier this week, the acquisition deal will provide what Oracle believes is the missing piece in its storage line-up.

Speaking on Thursday Oracle systems executive vice president John Fowler said the acquisition would allow Oracle to offer storage hardware specifically designed to work with its software and server lines.

"Since we have the application knowledge and understand how the database is laid out, we can move things such as compression and application awareness into the storage device itself," Fowler said.

Oracle president Mark Hurd added that the integration of Oracle's hardware offerings with its software platforms extended beyond the storage space. He said the company's Exadata platform would be able to improve application performance ten-fold in some cases.

The company's ability to integrate its hardware platform with its software lines was also highlighted by IDC analyst Andrew Reichman.

"Their strength is building an ecosystem around the Oracle Database," Reichman told V3.co.uk.

"In my mind the question Oracle has to answer is what type of infrastructure they want to focus on: do they want to have an infrastructure to fit around Oracle Database or to fit around all workloads?"

Reichman said that while the Pillar Data Systems buy would help Oracle to better compete with rivals such as EMC and NetApp in the SAN space, the move will not put Oracle too far ahead of the competition.

"This takes Oracle in the right direction and should allow them to compete better, but I wouldn't say it would make [EMC and NetApp] scared in any way," he said.

"They have already been competing head to head with Pillar and winning to some extent."