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Last month Oracle announced the Sun Oracle Database Machine, sometimes referenced by Oracle as Exadata V2. At OpenWorld in October, the new Sun Oracle Database Machine was front and center with live demos outside the main keynote area and frequent mention in keynotes and breakout sessions. This blog entry summarizes what is the same and what is different between Exadata V1 (the HP Oracle Database Machine first introduced at OpenWorld 2008), and Exadata V2, the new Sun Oracle Database Machine.

Since the publishing of the 4th Edition of "Oracle Essentials", Oracle has continued to evolve the business capabilities and sources supported by what are referred to in the book as the former Siebel Analytics applications.

Will Unbreakable Linux be pushed to the sidelines by another open source operating system?

As Schwartz touts the massive market penetration of Java on "Billions of PCs and Mobile Devices". Sun introduces a Java-centric App Store to bring the advantages of this distribution to Java application developers. Scott McNealy invites Larry Ellison to the stage to talk about the future of Java, how JavaFX is better than AJAX, and how he intends to compete with Google's Android.

It might have seemed last week, with the announcement of the Open Database Alliance, that MySQL is forking. The ODA promises a "central clearinghouse for MySQL development" and claims to improve on areas where criticism has historically been aimed at MySQL AB/Sun: bug-fixing, performance, and community responsiveness. But what's going on behind the scenes is much more subtle and promises a much better outcome for MySQL.

MySQL conference wrap-up: Flash, cloud computing, managing large installations, the value of community, and how to fumble your way to winning the presidency.

I sense a bigger enterprise theme at the MySQL conference this year. The pride of putting up a PHP- or Rails-backed web site lies in the past; now people are concerned with scaling into the clouds (figuratively and literally) and ensuring absolute reliability.

Shortly after the initial release of the HP Oracle Database Machine and the Exadata Storage Server, this blog described the new products. As organizations tested the hardware / software solution and more details have emerged on how it is delivered,...

You, no doubt, try to incorporate best practices when engaging in database projects. This week, I developed a lengthy list of worst practices in vendor evaluations, purchasing, development, deployment, management, and other areas. Many of these "worst practices" are found in all kinds of database projects.

Oracle highlighted a number of new database features and related topics at OpenWorld 2008. This entry provides just a quick description of some of the topics you might want to explore further. The big news item of the week was...