Oracle OpenWorld dreams of AI but deals in cloud computing

The tech industry has to be the worst offender when it comes to perpetuating buzzwords and fads.

As companies – small and large – gamble on their futures by backing one new tech innovation over another, they know that the more people hear and see the name of a new technology the more likely it will stick and become more than just the tech du jour.

In previous times, Larry Ellison, chairman of Oracle – the world's largest business software firm – publicly wrote off internet-based computing, or "the cloud", as a fad. Probably because those endorsing the new tech were in direct competition with the older business software programmes his company was still selling and maintaining worldwide. Then this summer, Ellison acquired cloud company NetSuite for $9.3 billion, a deal from which he reportedly made a personal profit of $3.5 billion (€3.2 billion).

Oracle OpenWorld

Now the cloud means everything to Oracle. The word was plastered on every poster and repeated ad nauseam by every speaker at Oracle OpenWorld 2016, an annual customer event, which celebrated its 20th year being held in San Francisco this week.

Several thousand gathered at the downtown Moscone Centre – including 11,000 developers for the Java One Conference alone. The sun never stopped shining on the cloud appreciation event, which also had a surprisingly heavy security presence throughout.

"We will look back to the dawn of cloud computing and compare it to the disruption created by PCs in the 1990s," said Diane Bryant, executive vice-president and general manager of the data centre group for Intel Corporation, a key partner of Oracle's in its expansion into the cloud.

Oracle’s decision to stop worrying and love the cloud notwithstanding, the arguments for its proliferation into business are convincing.

"This is not a fad, this is a generational shift," said Oracle chief executive Mark Hurd. "If all the cloud did was cost less but do the same thing as on premise computing systems, everybody would switch to it. But that's just one part – it makes the data environment more secure, more reliable and it's far easier to use."

According to Hurd, cloud providers already generate $30 billion in revenue and yet the tech is so cost-effective for customers that it drives down everything from IT costs to labour and day-to-day office expenses. Various clients including Orange, HSBC and ride-sharing superstar Lyft were wheeled out to validate Oracle's claims that the cloud makes economic sense.

The savings made from a firm’s IT budget, says Hurd, can go into the R&D budget. “So moving to the cloud isn’t just a technical shift, it’s a different economic model,” he said.

Artificial intelligence

Even artificial intelligence (AI) technology – another major talking point in business tech circles at present – was developing at its current pace because of the data-storage capabilities afforded by cloud platforms. “Cloud computing is a fundamentally more efficient way to deliver all kinds of machine-learning services,” said Intel’s Diane Bryant. “It’s now cost-feasible to store and compute massive amounts of data, which is allowing for many of the advances we’re currently seeing in AI.

“Data is the game-changer,” she said. “It is the differentiator for business. AI is all around us, not just in science fiction, and it is transforming the way businesses operate.”

Really? Well kind of. "This is the year artificial intelligence came into its own for mainstream businesses, at least as a marketing feature," reported Quentin Hardy this week in the New York Times.

There’s certainly a buzz around AI for business at the moment but levels of conviction concerning its potential don’t seem as strong as, say, cloud-platform technology.

"Everyone in the industry is talking up the possibilities of AI for business," one Oracle staff member told The Irish Times. "There are some interesting products on offer but not all of us are convinced."

Online software platform for sales and marketing Salesforce. com announced last week it was including AI in its product suite. The timing of the firm's announcement is significant as it meant it could take the sting out of any AI revelations Oracle might be planning at OpenWorld 2016 the following week.

For now, AI remains a side project that business software companies must be seen to be active in. Today’s battle remains in the cloud.

Even if the new computing platform did turn out to be tech’s latest fad and fall victim to its own hype (which is less than unlikely by the way) Larry Ellison and Co still have plenty to be positive about. Over 300,000 companies worldwide still use Oracle databases, while around 100,000 customers employ its business applications, meaning the corporation is still the world’s largest business technology provider.