HP and Oracle Announce Multi-Terabyte Data-Warehousing Initiative; Terabyte Plus Initiative Scales Warehouses to Support Demands of Enterprise and Internet Users

Business Wire, Dec 8, 1998

PALO ALTO, Calif.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Dec. 8, 1998--Hewlett- Packard Company and Oracle Corporation today announced a comprehensive terabyte plus initiative aligning the two companies' technology, R&D, sales, consulting and support services to support multi-terabyte data-warehousing environments.

Through a dedicated development effort, the terabyte plus initiative tightly integrates HP's latest data-warehouse server -- the HP 9000 V2500 Enterprise Server -- with the superior scalability of the Oracle8i(tm) Internet database to help customers handle fast-growing data warehouses that are accessed by hundreds to thousands of enterprise and Internet users. Alignment of Oracle's and HP's service and support teams delivers faster implementation and reduced risk methodologies to help build and deploy highly available, business-critical data warehouses.

"The large volume of intranet and Internet users has increased the demands on today's data-warehousing systems, raising the ante for both software and hardware," said Michael Rocha, senior vice president of Oracle's Platform Technologies Division. "By combining Oracle8i's advanced scalability with the HP 9000 V2500 server, we can now deliver multi-terabyte data-warehouse solutions that are available 24 hours a day. This paves the way for data warehouses and Internet commerce systems that can be accessed globally to make smarter decisions based on a wealth of real-time and historical information."

Powerful, Scalable Technology Infrastructure for Data Warehousing

HP and Oracle have specifically tuned their products to offer data-warehouse solutions that provide industry-leading performance, scalability and availability. To maximize scalability, the companies have outlined a multi-terabyte technology roadmap that offers customers the ability to scale their data warehouses to the multi- terabyte range and beyond. The companies' first products to deliver on the roadmap -- the HP 9000 V2500 Enterprise Server and the Oracle8i Internet database -- will enable customers to achieve unparalleled data-warehousing performance and make business-intelligence systems available for global Internet access. Currently in beta testing, Oracle8i is scheduled for availability at the end of 1998.

The terabyte plus initiative includes the following additional components from HP and Oracle:

--   Oracle8 and Oracle8i are optimized for HP's 64-bit, HP-UX 11
     operating environment. HP-UX 11 provides customers with an
     upgrade path to IA-64. Oracle products optimized for HP's IA-64
     platform give data-warehousing customers a continued performance
     advantage and investment protection to the IA-64 platform.

--   Oracle and HP have established an Enterprise Technology Center in
     Atlanta to help customers design and deploy data warehouses for
     terabyte scalability. The Enterprise Technology Center is an
     expertise hub where customers can create and test proof-of-
     concept, multi-terabyte data warehouses.

--   To address the business-critical availability needs inherent in
     data warehousing, HP and Oracle have teamed up to optimize
     mission-critical systems that are available 24x7 in today's
     global Internet computing environment. HP and Oracle are working
     together to add the Oracle database to HP Mission Critical Server
     Suites, which provide a 99.95 percent uptime commitment. The
     99.95 percent database availability solution is one of the first
     steps in HP's longer-term high-availability vision of delivering
     99.999 percent end-to-end availability, known as 5nines:5minutes.

--   To streamline customer support, HP and Oracle have created a
     Service Integration Program (SIP) that delivers first-in-the-
     industry alignment of two premier support organizations for data
     warehousing. SIP includes both reactive and proactive support
     that addresses the growing complexities and needs within multi-
     terabyte data warehousing. A team of dedicated, cross-trained
     Oracle and HP support specialists will help joint customers
     achieve and maintain high levels of availability for their
     mission-critical data-warehouse environments.

About Oracle Corporation

Oracle Corporation is the world's leading supplier of software for information management, and the world's second largest software company. With annual revenues of more than $7.5 billion, the company offers its database, application server, tools, and application products along with related consulting, education, and support services in more than 140 countries around the world. For more information about Oracle, call 650/506-7000, or hit Oracle's home page on the Web at http://www.oracle.com.

About HP

Hewlett-Packard Company is a leading global provider of computing, Internet and intranet solutions, services, communications products and measurement solutions, all of which are recognized for excellence in quality and support. HP had 124,600 employees and had revenues of $47.1 billion in its 1998 fiscal year.