All organisations are somewhere along their journey to the cloud. Whether you’re in the planning stages, in the process of transitioning or have completed the journey, you’ll still need to be making ongoing decisions about what’s best for your total data environment.
To retain flexibility with your cloud solutions, you’ll want to have options – and if your databases are with Oracle, you should be aware that your options might be more limited than you first thought.
Your license fees may double
With the changes that occurred on the 23rd of January 2017 in the Licensing Oracle Software in the Cloud Computing Environment, Oracle has effectively doubled its database fees for solutions sitting on non-Oracle cloud platforms. Therefore, if you want to migrate your existing Oracle database investment to a cloud platform other than Oracle, you could start paying twice as much for your database licenses.
But you may not notice straight away. Oracle has the most aggressive behaviour and biggest focus on short-term revenue when it comes to software audits. So organisations are likely to be hit with additional licensing fees that they haven’t budgeted for.
One of Oracle’s key messages is that their databases will run better on the Oracle cloud – however, this is not necessarily the case. We’ve yet to see one reason that justifies the hefty premium non-Oracle cloud customers are expected to pay.
In fact, we see it as yet another reason existing Oracle database customers should seriously consider migrating to Microsoft SQL Server. Microsoft SQL Server is licensed the same way regardless of the cloud it runs on. And, unlike Oracle’s costing structure which includes feature-by-feature pricing, Microsoft SQL Server comes with one, fully-featured license.
Still think Oracle is the premium solution? If security, superior data analytics and performance are important to you, here are some facts that may challenge your thinking.
Keeping your cloud options open
Having the right cloud strategy for your business involves more than just comparing the costs of different platforms. It’s also important to retain flexibility in the cloud options available to you. This will allow you to adapt your data environment to changes in your organisation and for variability in your applications. For example, the public cloud may be suitable for some of your applications while a private cloud may be a better solution for others.
With Microsoft SQL Server, you can benefit from a hybrid cloud environment which can easily cater to your different database needs. Microsoft allows SQL Server to be available on-premises, in a private or partner cloud, as well as the public cloud – all at the same, predictable cost.
Don’t get locked-in
When making decisions about cloud data solutions you don’t want to be tied into a costly, inflexible solution. If you are looking to migrate from Oracle to Microsoft SQL Server, calculate your potential savings with Microsoft SQL Server with an Oracle to SQL Server Cost Comparison Report or register for a Free 2-day Migration Workshop to determine if Microsoft SQL Server is a viable solution for your organisation – from both a technical and financial perspective.
WARDY IT Solutions are database experts. We have the expertise to develop and implement customised Microsoft SQL Server database solutions whatever the size or complexity of your environment. Whether you’re just getting started in cloud or are looking to migrate your existing database, talk to us about how we can help you progress on your cloud journey.
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