14 DAY TRIAL // It appears that Oracle really did step on some toes when it announced that it no longer planned to develop software for Intel's Itanium server platform, enough so that some clients are now demanding that it reconsider.
The server market might not usually grab much attention compared to the consumer segment, but this didn't stop Oracle and HP from getting into one of the more avid conflicts of recent months.
Simply put, Oracle decided to stop supporting the Intel Itanium platform, meaning that it will no longer develop software fore it.
This left HP as the only major player still planning to continue supporting it, and its reaction was not favorable at all.
HP started off saying it is shocked at Oracle's shameless gambit, then continued by urging customers to demand that Oracle reconsider.
Apparently, its efforts worked, at least as far as its own clients go, those that use Itanium-based HP Integrity servers at least.
“We believe in fair and spirited competition and the customer’s right to choose the best technology for their organizations. In their most recent quarterly earnings, Oracle missed their hardware revenue target on Sun servers,” said Martin Fink, senior vice president and general manager of business critical systems at HP.
“The industry is voicing its concerns about the dubious business practices Oracle is conducting as a way to revive its failing hardware business,”
HP claims to hold the second spot as worldwide supplier of UNIX systems and has thousands of customers that invested billions in the aforementioned servers, which run oracle and HP-UX software.
Oracle's decision will impact their productivity and stifle innovation in the industry by blocking fair competition.
“We see this as perhaps the poorest example in a number of less than stellar decisions made by Oracle over the years. Clearly an attempt to shore up a hardware platform that cannot stand on its own merits,” stated Hayden Stewart, vice president of IT for a SaaS software vendor.