Oracle Introduces Oracle(R) Information Lifecycle Management Assistant


REDWOOD SHORES, Calif., Feb. 26 -- Oracle (NASDAQ:ORCL) today announced the general availability of Oracle(R) Information Lifecycle Management Assistant (Oracle ILM Assistant), the industry's first, free tool to provide customers with a comprehensive range of Information Lifecycle Management (ILM) capabilities for Oracle Database 10g. Building on Oracle's commitment to meeting the needs of its customers, Oracle ILM Assistant significantly eases the challenge of designing and implementing a strategy to manage the lifecycle of information.

With an increasing amount of information in the enterprise, organizations are required to store vast amounts of data for extended periods of time to meet new regulatory data retention and protection requirements. A recent study of members of the Independent Oracle User Group (IOUG) found that 92 percent of respondents expect their database storage needs to increase in 2007. To meet this growth, 64 percent of respondents said they will increase their spending on storage in 2007. The report, "Managing the Storage Equation: The Converging Roles of Data and Storage Professionals," was produced by Unisphere Research(1).

By implementing an ILM strategy, customers can benefit from reduced storage costs by keeping a minimum quantity of data on high cost storage devices. In conjunction with the partitioning capabilities of Oracle Database 10g, Oracle ILM Assistant enables users to define lifecycles -- when it is time to move or purge data -- enabling the maximum quantity of data to be retained at the lowest cost. In addition, Oracle ILM Assistant features simulated table partitioning, storage cost modeling, and reports on security and compliance features in use.

The reliability and scalability of Oracle Database 10g coupled with Oracle Partitioning provides the ideal environment for managing business ILM because the data lies all in one place instead of being stored in multiple formats. As the number of rows in large tables continues to grow, database reliability and query performance in particular can degrade significantly. This is not the case with Oracle. Oracle's sophisticated query optimization technology avoids referencing partitions containing archival data not required to process application queries. Oracle Database 10g also features table compression technology to help lower storage costs further. The flexibility inherent in Oracle Database 10g allows it to rapidly adapt to any change in requirements, an important benefit considering the continuing evolution of regulatory mandates.

"Effective ILM is one of the key challenges organizations face today," said Andy Mendelsohn, senior vice president of Database Server Technologies, Oracle. "Oracle ILM Assistant is the first tool of its kind that gives customers practical ILM capabilities using their Oracle Database. Customers can easily and efficiently manage their information lifecycles and may reduce their related storage costs with Oracle ILM Assistant and Oracle Partitioning."

"As a Large Voting Member of the SNIA, Oracle is working with other leading technology vendors to set the direction and pace of the storage networking industry," said Vincent Franceschini, Chair, Storage Networking Industry Association (SNIA). "The SNIA recognizes that IT operations, globally, are increasingly implementing ILM strategies based on SNIA recommendations for their mission-critical data in support of their business objectives and to comply with regional industry regulations. Most implemented strategies include tiered storage, online backup and restore, and data classification as part of their deployed solutions."

Organization Tackles ILM with Oracle Database 10g

One of the world's largest hotel and leisure companies, Starwood Hotels & Resorts Worldwide, Inc. relies on Oracle Database 10g to drive its online and phone reservations systems, as well as support more than 20 million members of its Starwood Preferred Guest loyalty program. The company uses Oracle Database 10g and Oracle Partitioning to successfully implement an ILM solution to effectively manage the lifecycle of customer information, and to enable compliance and reduced storage costs.

"Oracle's ILM capabilities have given us increased visibility of the whole lifespan of our business information," said Arup Nanda, Director of Database Engineering, Starwood Hotels & Resorts Worldwide, Inc.

Availability and Pricing

Oracle ILM Assistant is available free of charge to all Oracle Database Enterprise Edition users and is downloadable from the Oracle Technology Network at: www.oracle.com/technology/software/deploy/ilm/index.html .

Oracle ILM Assistant requires Oracle Database 10g or Oracle9i Database and that Oracle Application Express be installed in the database where the tables to be managed by Oracle ILM Assistant reside. For more information on Oracle ILM Assistant, go to: www.oracle.com/technology/deploy/ilm/index.html .

About Oracle

Oracle is the world's largest enterprise software company. For more information about Oracle, please visit our Web site at http://www.oracle.com/.

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The following is intended to outline our general product direction. It is intended for information purposes only, and may not be incorporated into any contract. It is not a commitment to deliver any material, code, or functionality, and should not be relied upon in making purchasing decision. The development, release, and timing of any features or functionality described for Oracle's products remains at the sole discretion of Oracle.

(1): Unisphere Research, "Managing the Storage Equation: The Converging Roles of Data and Storage Professionals," October 2006, by J. McKendrick

CONTACT: Eloy Ontiveros of Oracle, +1-650-607-6458, or eloy.ontiveros@oracle.com; or Marcie Hatch of Zeno Group, +1-415-369-8120, or marcie.hatch@zenogroup.com, for Oracle

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