Oracle Sees the Light of Cloud Computing and Launches World Tour

The on-again, off-again stance Oracle has had with cloud computing took a big leap to the positive when a 52 city global Cloud Computing Tour was announced on their website today.

The world tour has been in progress throughout the Asia-Pacific, European, Middle East, and African regions beginning in January of this year. Clearly there is pressure in these regions to sell more Sun hardware and services, hence the decision to launch in these geographies first. Oracle’s culture is reflected in the launch sequence of events in this world tour, which is to get any acquisition into sales growth mode as fast as possible.

Has Ellison Seen the Light? If there is a Sale in It, He Has

Larry Ellison has openly criticized cloud computing as tantamount to being the latest buzzword thrown around to re-package existing concepts. With an element of sarcasm, he explains his position on cloud computing and also levels criticism to the “nitwits on Sand Hill Road” who are the venture capital companies funding cloud computing start-ups.  He does have a point however.  SaaS marketers often miss the point of their services’ true value, relying on adjective-laden, confusing concepts instead of just saying what cloud computing is.

Bottom line: During previous quarterly earnings calls Oracle has often said they see cloud computing as an aberration and a business that could not scale to profitability. Not wanting to leave any money on the table with enterprise accounts, Oracle gets cloud religion just in time to upsell servers, services and infrastructure.

Image attribution http: http://www.flickr.com/photos/66481598@N00/2340296058/