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Oracle
Server Portfolio

by Faulkner Staff

Copyright 2021, Faulkner Information Services. All
Rights Reserved.

Docid: 00018718

Publication Date: 2110

Report Type: PRODUCT

Preview

Since its acquisition of Sun Microsystems in January 2010, Oracle has
been refining its server line. The company offers SPARC Servers, x86
Systems, Netra Systems, and Fujitsu brands. The
company has scaled down its server portfolio and has been working to help
boost sales of the product line, which has been declining in recent years.
This report discusses the key components and features of the product line.

Report Contents:

• Description
• Related Faulkner Reports
• Vendor
• Applications
• Environment
• Support
• Pricing
• Competitors
• Web Links

Description

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In January 2010, Oracle bought Sun Microsystems in a $7 billion USD
acquisition. Oracle has assumed complete control over Sun’s diverse
product lineup, including its family of Sun Servers. Its server portfolio
– which includes low-end, mid-range, and high-end server hardware – can
handle computing duties in business environments.

After its acquisition of Sun, Oracle launched the SPARC T4 Servers, X4-2,
X4-2L, and Sun Blade X4-2B to help boost sales of the Sun Server line.
More recently, it launched the Oracle Server X8-8, which lets users to add
processors to accommodate increased demand. It has a 5U footprint and is
designed to reduce server management overhead and software licensing costs
with 8-socket or dual 4-socket configurations.

Integrating the Sun line has been a challenge for Oracle. In particular,
Oracle has faced increased competition since the market adoption of
commoditized X86 servers by Hewlett-Packard, Dell, and IBM.¹ The
popularity of engineered systems continues to grow and Sun has felt the
impact. During 2014 and 2015, Oracle dropped the Sun brand from several of
its servers.

Figure 1 depicts the Oracle Server X8-8.

Figure 1. Oracle Server X8-8

Source: Oracle

SPARC Servers

• SPARC M8-8
• SPARC S7-2L
• SPARC T8-1
• SPARC T8-2
• SPARC T8-4

Netra Systems

• Netra SPARC S7-2 servers

x86 Servers

• Oracle Server X8-2
• Oracle ServerX8-2L
• Oracle Server X8-8

Fujitsu Servers

• Fujitsu SPARC M12-1
• Fujitsu SPARC M12-2
• Fujitsu SPARC M12-2S
• Fujitsu SPARC M10-1 Server

Figure 2 depicts the Fujitsu SPARC M12 servers.

Figure 2. Fujitsu SPARC M12 Servers

Source: Oracle

Applications

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Oracle Server products are available for virtually any sized environment
or application. This includes the handling of front end business
environments’ computing duties.

Environment

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Table 1 looks at the minimum processor requirements and operating system
support for select Oracle Servers.

Support

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Oracle offers a complete support program, which includes service plans
for virtually all of its systems, storage products, and software. Oracle
offers:

• Support Login
• Support Center
• Acquired Companies Product Support
• Critical Path Updates and Security Alerts
• Support Services Internet Seminars (Advisor Webcasts)
• Global Support Contracts
• Oracle Software Downloads
• Product Documentation
• Technical Articles
• Software Security Assurance

Pricing

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Table 2 provides pricing data for select servers.

Competitors

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Oracle’s servers compete with: IBM’s blade, cluster, power system, smart
cube, storage, system x, and system z servers; HP ProLiant and Integrity
NonStop Computing servers; Dell’s PowerEdge servers; NEC Japan’s
Express5800 and VirtualPC servers; and assorted Intel servers.

References

¹ Larry Walsh. “Oracle Dragged by Sagging Server Demand.”
Channelnomics.com. September 24, 2012.

Web Links

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• Dell: http://www.dell.com/
• Hewlett-Packard: http://www.hp.com/
• IBM: http://www.ibm.com/
• Intel: http://www.intel.com/
• NEC Japan: http://www.nec.com/
• Oracle: http://www.oracle.com/

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