Oracle and Microsoft have announced an unusual partnership that will give customers a unified sign-on to Azure and Oracle Cloud with a “seamless” connection between the two. Customers will then be able to run mission-critical enterprise workloads across either cloud, without having to re-architect those workflows, the companies said.
The tie-up will let customers make use of Azure’s analytics or Artificial Intelligence tools across Oracle-based workloads, e.g. running in Oracle’s Autonomous Database and allow users to start deploying a wide range of Oracle software on Azure VMs.
A direct interconnect between the two clouds is available starting today in Ashburn (North America) and Azure US East, with plans to expand to additional regions “in the future”, they said. Also available in early preview today, Oracle applications can use Azure Active Directory as the identity provider and for conditional access.
The agreement means jointly supported deployment of custom applications and packaged Oracle applications (JD Edwards EnterpriseOne, E-Business Suite, PeopleSoft, Oracle Retail, Hyperion) on Azure with Oracle databases (RAC, Exadata, Autonomous Database) deployed in Oracle Cloud. The same Oracle applications will also be certified to run on Azure with Oracle databases in Oracle Cloud.
(A complete list of Oracle software licensed for use on Azure is here).
Oracle Cloud Azure Tie-Up: “A Natural Choice”
Oracle Cloud Azure Tie-Up: “A Natural Choice”Scott Guthrie, executive vice president of Microsoft’s Cloud and AI division said: “This alliance is a natural choice for us as we help our joint customers accelerate the migration of enterprise applications and databases to the public cloud.”
Don Johnson, executive vice president, Oracle Cloud Infrastructure, added: “Joint customers can migrate their entire set of existing applications to the cloud without having to re-architect anything, preserving the large investments they have made.”
“As we look to bring our omnichannel experience closer together and transform the technology platform that powers the Gap Inc. brands, the collaboration between Oracle and Microsoft will make it easier for us to scale and deliver capabilities across channels,” said Sally Gilligan, Gap’s CIO.
She added: “The interoperability between Azure and Oracle Cloud allows us to deploy Oracle or custom-built applications on Azure and Oracle databases on Oracle Cloud.”
See also: Oracle Releases Autonomous NoSQL Database Service
