Re: Sun Selected as Oracle's Primary RDBMS Development Platform

In case anyone wants a different perspective on the recent Sun/Oracle announcement, here is Sequent's position, described in an email note that was distributed internally. Sequent is working on a formal reply, which will be made public as soon as it is finished.

If you have been following other threads from Sun, you might also get a chuckle out of the facts that:

1. Sun is having difficulty moving from Sequents to Suns internally. The versions of the Oracle Financials and Manufacturing software they need for migration are not available on the Sun platform (but are available on Sequents).
2. They have trouble shutting down their Oracle databases. On the Sequent ports of the products, there is a script called 'dbshut' which shuts down all of the databases identified in "/etc/oratab".
   • / / Jeff Kayser __/ /___/ Sequent Computer Systems / / / / \ 15450 S.W. Koll Parkway / (__/ / \ Beaverton, OR 97006-6063 /__/ (503) 578-3813 jdk_at_sequent.com

>From jlynch_at_sequent.sequent.com Wed Oct 28 10:44 PST 1992
From: Jim Lynch <jlynch_at_sequent.sequent.com> Message-Id: <9210281840.AA09100_at_sequent.sequent.com> Subject: Sequent still on Top at Oracle! To: sales_at_sequent.sequent.com, compinfo_at_sequent.sequent.com Date: Wed, 28 Oct 92 10:40:25 PST
Priority: normal
X-Mailer: ELM [version 2.2 CRG PL14c]

To: Sales, Compinfo

Fr: Jim Lynch, Oracle Program Manager

     Randy Hawkins, Oracle Applications Program Manager
     Sandi Schaefer, Oracle Manufacturing Program Manager

Subj: Sun announcement with Oracle

The purpose of this message is to clear the air regarding the Sun/Oracle announcement on Tuesday. As usual, Sun has made a mountain out of a molehill in an attempt to get the most mileage out of this announcement.

The bottom line is that Oracle will be purchasing Sun workstations and servers to replace X-terms and VAX equipment in the Kernel group. These workstations and servers will be used for tools, distributed database, and client/server development. This sale of Sun equipment is a direct result of Sun purchasing $11 million in Oracle prepaids in May of 1992 (prepaids and site licenses for AOracle Applications).

Sequent currently has two very large 2000/750 systems in the Kernel group. These systems are used for centralized database development and the source control system for all RDBMS products in the kernel group. As the Sun equipment is rolled in, Sequent will be the backend RDBMS server for the Sun clients. We are also negotiating with Oracle to move the Parallel Server development onto Sequent (Sun currently does not have a product in this area).

We have discussed Sun's announcement with Oracle and they have agreed that it needs to be clarified. We have asked Oracle to provide us with a statement or letter to publically clarify the development environment for our customers and prospects. I will make this available as soon as we receive it.

Attached are portions of the announcement that I will try to clarify.

> Oracle Purchases Additional Workstations and Servers
> For Next-Generation RDBMS Product Development
>
>
> MOUNTAIN VIEW, Calif. -- October 27, 1992 -- Sun Microsystems
> Computer Corporation (SMCC) announced today that Oracle Corporation has
> selected the Sun(TM) platform as its primary development platform for its
> next-generation RDBMS software products.
>

        As I stated earlier, Sun will be the development platform for
        Tools, distributed database, and client/server applications.
        Sequent will be used for centralized database, VLDB, and
        high-end server development.

> "Our customers demand outstanding distributed database performance,"
> said Scott McNealy, Sun Microsystems president and chief executive officer.
> "As Oracle's main RDBMS development platform, SPARC(R)/Solaris(R) will give
> our mutual users the ultimate combination of distributed, client-server
> capabilities and performance for UNIX client-server applications. Oracle's
> selection of Sun is still more proof that companies increasingly develop
> their core business applications on Sun."
>

        McNealy confirms that they will focus on distributed and
        client/server applications.

> In May, Oracle announced that Sun Microsystems will be using its
> Oracle Manufacturing(R) and Oracle Financials(R) applications suites for
> worldwide automation of its manufacturing facilities.
>

        Sequent was a beta site for Oracle Financials and
        Manufacturing.  We have had Financials installed
        for four years and Manufacturing for almost 2 years.
        This puts Sun four years behind Sequent.

> In June, Oracle and Sun reported the highest-ever Transaction
> Processing Council(TM)-A (TPC-A) Benchmark performance to date on a Sun
> system. The result, 107.28 transactions per second (tpsA), was achieved on
> a Sun SPARCserver 690MP system running ORACLE7.
>

        In June, Sequent announced 605tps-A performance on
        ORACLE7.  This result is 6 times faster than Sun's
        high-end SMP system.  We are already working on the
        next benchmark with ptx/Clusters and OPS and that
        will take us even higher in Q1 of 93.

> In August, the two companies announced a joint development agreement
> in which developers from SMCC's technical staff have teamed with Oracle
> developers to enhance and localize the Oracle Financials and Oracle
> Manufacturing applications that are being used throughout Sun Microsystems
> worldwide operations.
>

        As stated earlier, Oracle and Sequent have been
        working together for several years on Oracle
        Financials and Manufacturing.  We are now discussing
        how to parallelize portions of these applications
        to improve performance on Sequent in high volume
        transaction environments.

Other areas where Sequent has an advantage over Sun are:

1. Oracle Corp. runs their business on Sequent! In fact, they just installed ORACLE7 and Financials on a Sequent (WRSEQ) running in production. This is the first system in the world to run ORACLE7, and Financials in a production environment and this system is a Sequent. When Oracle puts their business on-line, they put it on Sequent! (Note: ORACLE7 and Financials is only in production at Oracle. It will not be released to customers for several months.)

   ---

2. ORACLE7 Parallel Server - we are going beta in November. Sun currently has no plans for developing this product.

3. Sequent is a member of MOSES along with Oracle. We are working with our customers to develop and implement standards for managing and operating massive open systems.

4. Sequent is working with Oracle on the VLDB project to provide incremental backup and restore of the Oracle database on Sequent.

See the Sequent Field Monthly for more details on each of these, as well as info on the development environments at Oracle in the Applications and Unix divisions.

Good luck and Good Selling. We are still on top and will continue to work hard to maintain that position.

Regards,

Jim
Randy
Sandi Received on Thu Nov 05 1992 - 19:32:46 CET