Oracle May Get More Customers for Dropping Intel Itanium

Users may have heard of how Oracle stopped making software for a certain Intel server platform, and while parties are divided on how to view this turn of events, some analysts think it will be good for the company in the long run.

The server industry can be said to have gone through some changes, or at least will experience them following a certain decision on Oracle's part.

Basically, the outfit stopped making software for the Intel Itanium platform. HP was less than pleased, while Intel came out and said it was, by no means, planning to give up on the processors.

Still, while conflicting feelings may exist, a certain technology market research and consulting firm believes the maneuver will end up increasing oracle's hardware customers.

"The Itanium disruption will allow Oracle to gain hardware customers among existing software subscribers; however, the aggressive move will also enable competitors IBM to provide alternative options to customers who are unhappy with Oracle’s tactics,” said Jessica Breen, an analyst for enterprise software for TBR.

“Ultimately, TBR believes the disruptive Itanium tactic will only drive a partial transition from Itanium to SPARC as competitors capitalize on an opportunity to poach unhappy customers.”

Oracle gave up on Itanium because it directly competes with it UltraSPARC servers. Its own customers may start to question their image of oracle, but the end result is still expected to be positive, from a business standpoint.

That doesn't mean rivalries won't heat up though. Moving forward, HP might see an increase in sales of Itanium-based products, while IBM is expected to continue as the main provider of non-SPARC solutions (Power-based servers).

"Oracle de-emphasized commodity hardware, but continues to provide strong software support for the x86. HP-UX customers will feel the hit as HP-UX runs specifically on Itanium processors. HP announced that it would continue to support Itanium; however, the move places customers in a precarious position with Oracle software as they may not be able to upgrade," added Breen.