Small print will save Oracle losing $1m bet

By ADAM GIFFORD

Clunk. That was the sound of several thousand jaws hitting the ground as Oracle chief executive Larry Ellison demonstrated his company's new database software, 9i - and backed it with a $US1 million guarantee of satisfaction.

At Open World 2000 a week ago, Mr Ellison was so confident about the new software that he promised $US1 million ($2.4 million) to any commercial website that was not able to triple its performance by switching from a Microsoft or IBM database to the Oracle 8i Database running the new 9i Application Server.

But now that more information about how the bet is going to work has come to light, sniggers have been heard throughout the software industry.

The catch is Rule 11, which says Oracle can change the conditions and limitations for its offer or withdraw it at any time without notice.

Rule 12 says that if the technology does not speed up their site, participants cannot tell anyone without Oracle's permission.

Before it will pay out the $1 million, Oracle also gives itself three months to "tune the performance" of the site if it fails to run three times faster.

And despite Mr Ellison's claims that the company is now totally global, Rule 10 limits the offer to firms in the United States.

Most of those in awe of the software were database administrators who were impressed by the finer points of transaction throughput, 17-second fail-over times and huge scalability.

Oracle 9i Database includes the new Oracle Real Application Clusters technology, which shares frequently accessed data across all computers in a cluster to allow huge scalability without trading off performance.

Under this "Cache Fusion" shared-cache architecture, every time a computer is added, database performance increases. Administrators can configure the system so data is continuously available, even when there is a catastrophic failure within the cluster - as Mr Ellison demonstrated by blowing up a computer.

The company claims that in a 12-computer configuration any application running on Oracle Real Application Clusters will run for more than 100,000 years without a catastrophic failure.

Based on Microsoft's own estimates, a 12-computer cluster running a Microsoft database system will experience a catastrophic failure once every 7.5 days.

The reaction of Bob, a database administrator from Kansas City, was typical: "I'm really excited by this. I've been through IBM DB/2. I've been through Sybase. I've never been this excited about a new product. I'll be really disappointed if it doesn't ship doing what they say it will do."

There will be little chance of that, said Oracle marketing vice-president Mark Jarvis.

"It's a very competitive environment and it's dangerous to fake. We're not faking," he told the Business Herald.

"Everything you saw in that demonstration was real."

The 9i Application Server was released last week, but the 9i Database is not due until March.

"Before it ships, we want to make sure everything works," Mr Jarvis said.

Features of the new database software include a "Flashback" query tool, so if a user makes a mistake, he or she can quickly go back to the data as it appeared before the error. This recognises that humans are the most common sources of error in computer systems.

There is real-time personalisation so, for example, book or music websites that make recommendations based on past searches can respond to queries in a current session.

New security features include authentication technology so users can be verified even in complex, multi-tiered environments with a single sign-on.

Virtual Private Database with Security Labels will allow application service providers (ASPs) to securely host multiple customers on a single database.

Selective Encryption prevents even system administrators and the highest privileged users from accessing sensitive data such as customer credit card numbers.

The Oracle 9i Database will self-tune and manage memory, processor use and disk space to reduce the time needed to manage the database. Advice-driven diagnostics, routine-task automation and simplified wizard-driven management will make administrators more productive.

Mr Jarvis said the focus on simplicity and self-management was a consequence of changes in sales patterns over the past year, as e-business had become mainstream.

The big drive was for Oracle to host the software itself. Mr Jarvis said its ASP, Business Online, was close to a profit after just over a year in operation.

"In five years' time half our revenue will come from software as a service rather than software as a product. That means customers buying our software and letting us run it for them."

* Adam Gifford attended Oracle Open World as a guest of the company.