The Fate of Oracle’s Grid Engine , fall 2010

For more details see my blog on http://www.hpcinthecloud.com/blogs/The-Fate-of-Oracles-Grid-Engine-To-HPC-or-Not-to-HPC-102982089.html

The growing concern in HPC circles about the fate of Oracle Grid Engine (OGE) after the merger with Sun in February 2010 is the catalyst for asking thiis rhetorical question.

  Oracle strategy seems focused primarily  to monetize immediately new products from acquired companies. OGE monetary potential visible with the naked eye is misleading. The product itself and the know how of its’ engineers can create new solutions in Oracle impossible to acquire from other companies, because they don’t exist yet.

For now the access to  Oracle Grid Engine product page  is complicated. If one does not know anything about what Oracle Grid Engine can do, it is highly improbable to discover this product by simply browsing Oracle's web site.

A seasoned executive from HPC industry commented: “Add to it the convergence of the IT infrastructure operating enterprise and HPC services then you will see that Oracle blocks out an opportunity if they don't listen to the HPC side of their customers and doesn't give them suitable products.”

Can  Oracle  wait until they can buy some company which has shown how to bridge enterprise and HPC computing  rather than be the innovator themselves?  My answer is No.
Here is an  example of where Grid Engine can bring a competitive edge for Oracle. OGE can help Oracle being very competitive on smart power grid market. Perhaps they did not realize this yet. But they will.
The new $200B per year smart power grids has no dominating product ready. President Obama has called for the installation 40,000,000 smart meters and 3,000 miles of transmission lines. Venture Capital companies like  Nth Power,  Foundation Capital, New Enterprise Associates, Kleiner Perkins Caulfield and Byers, Siemens venture arm and many others are actively investing. Cisco just acquired a start up Arch Rock, a smart grid monitoring company. The market is there, but the products are incipient.

Comments

Popular Posts