
Oracle targets small and mid-sized businesses with new database appliances
New engineered systems enable smaller firms to get up and running with an Oracle database

Oracle is looking to appeal beyond the firm's traditional enterprise customer base with new entry-level database appliance systems priced for small to mid-sized businesses. The new systems also provide a bridge to the cloud with support for seamless back-up to Oracle's Cloud platform.
Available now, the latest additions to Oracle's portfolio of database appliances comprise the X6-2S and X6-2M, 1U rack-mount systems based on Intel Xeon E5 v4 processors and pre-configured with Oracle Linux and a choice of Oracle Database software.
The Database Appliance X6-2S is a single-socket system with 128GB to 384GB of memory, and is optimised for running single-instance databases. The Database Appliance X6-2M is twice as powerful, with twin processors and 256GB to 768GB, making it capable of handling multiple-instance databases, according to Oracle.
Both are configured with 6.4TB of high bandwidth NVM Express flash storage, expandable up to 12.8TB for database storage, offering a high level of performance for applications.
Central to these new database appliances is support for the Oracle Database Standard Edition 2 and Oracle Database Enterprise Edition, the firm said.
The starting price of $18,000 (£12,000) may seem costly for a small company, but the customer gets a ready-configured and optimised database system that can be deployed in as little as 30 minutes, according to Oracle.
"We're excited to bring the power, simplicity and capabilities of Oracle's Engineered Systems at a price that allows every organisation to save time and money," said Oracle senior vice president of converged infrastructure Jim Gargan.
Oracle's Appliance Manager software simplifies administration tasks, such as provisioning, patching and diagnosis of the system, and allows customers to move workloads to the Oracle Cloud or use it as a target to back up or archive critical data.
"With the family of database appliances, Oracle offers built-in expertise for single-instance database and high-availability deployments, while providing a bridge between on-premise systems and the cloud, enabling all of our customers to capitalise on their investment," Gargan said.
V3 Latest
First plant to grow on the Moon, err, dies
Cotton seedling freezes to death as Chang'e-4 shuts down for the Moon's 14-day lunar night
Fortnite news and updates: Fortnite made $2.4bn in 2018, according to SuperData
Fortnite easily out-earns PUBG, Assassin's Creed Odyssey and Red Dead Redemption 2 in 2018
Japanese firm sends micro-satellites into space to deliver artificial meteor showers on demand
Meteor showers as a service will be visible for about 100 kilometres in all directions
Saturn's rings only formed in the past 100 million years, suggests analysis of Cassini space probe data
New findings contradict conventional belief that Saturn's rings were formed along with the planet about 4.5 billion years ago