Oracle users hold breath for 11g pricing
Four hundred new features. One price.
By China Martens, IDG News Service | Published: 02:57, 14 August 2007
Oracle is expected to release pricing information for 11g, the latest version of its enterprise database, today.
The vendor unveiled unveiled Oracle Database 11g, the first major upgrade to releases 1 and 2 of its 10g database, in New York on 11 July.
Late last week, users were able to download the Linux version of the software from the Oracle Technology Network web site. Oracle Database 11g release 1 for Linux x86 is available in three flavours - Enterprise Edition, Standard Edition and Standard Edition One.
While Oracle executives talked up 11g's new features at the New York launch event, they didn't discuss pricing and availability. The only thing they did confirm was a probable August shipping date for the Linux version. According to an Oracle blog posting, the Windows version of 11g "is expected to come out shortly."
The new database has 400 new features and users are eager to find out which functionality will be included as part of 11g and which Oracle intends to charge extra for. New features include live patching, additional compression and partitioning options, improved security features, and Real Application Testing technology that allows users to record a segment of their database operations and then use that recording as a testing environment.
Figures from Gartner released in June positioned Oracle as the number-one relational database management system vendor in 2006 with a 47.1 percent market share, head and shoulders above IBM with 21.1 percent and Microsoft with 17.4 percent.
