VARs question Oracle's wisdom

As vendor's product and channel plans for its hardware business become clearer, many questions still remain

Cloudy forecast: Uncertainty still surrounds product development and channel integration

Oracle's big announcements on product roadmaps and routes to market for its new-found hardware portfolio have done little to quell channel uncertainty.

Earlier this month, Oracle's vice president of systems John Fowler, outlined the vendor's plans for its new-found hardware portfolio. The vendor is to release Solaris 11 next year, the first update to Sun's operating system in six years. He also stressed the software firm's commitment to continued development of Sun's Sparc processors and x86 servers.

"The core strategy is to deliver the best open servers for Oracle applications, [as well as] running SAP, IBM, SAS – many different kinds of application," he said.

But Nigel Wright, sales director at Abtech UK, which resells both Sun and Oracle, claimed those using Solaris for non-Oracle applications will look at competing technologies.

"There is also doubt from customers in terms of whether the technology they are using is going to be part of the Oracle plan," he added. "From a partner point of view, [Sun] is also a lot harder to deal with [since the acquisition], even on things like shipping costs."

Martin Mutch, chief executive of Oracle Platinum partner Rocela, claimed the merger was starting to bring consulting opportunities on Solaris and Exadata technologies.

"It would be nice to get an official line from Oracle on the future of open Solaris," he added.

Mutch predicted Sun VARs would "go one way or the other", with those choosing to stay in the Oracle fold looking to ally or merge with software firms.

"Certainly some Sun partners are coming to us for advice on, how best to deal with Oracle – it is mutually advantageous, but only to channel partners that play the Oracle game."

Oracle is also understood to have finalised its UK distribution line-up, with Avnet and Arrow ECS rumoured to be in the box seats. Sources claimed the protracted review process, beset by numerous delays, "showed how seriously" the vendor took the decision.