Re: What does this mean for Oracle Licensing??

For what it's worth, Sun also has a "Capacity on Demand" offering. Under Sun's "CoD" offering, you would buy, say, an 8-way SunFire 4800 which actually has all 12 CPU's in it. You'd pay something closer to the 8 CPU price because only 8 would be enabled. If you wanted to use all 12 CPU's, Sun will sell you a "key" that would, effectively, unlock the remaining 4 CPU's (and, the associated memory). I *believe* (but am not certain) that you can unlock those 4 CPU's on a short-term basis (say, for your year-end-close) and then return to the 8-CPU model when that period is over.

Now, from Oracle's standpoint, it's my understanding that Oracle will do their licensing based on the number of CPU's _in_the_box_. So, you'd be forced to buy a 12-CPU license for Oracle (whether you're using all 12 or not). However, as with everything, your results may vary. Be sure to talk with your Oracle salesperson if you are seriously considering using a CoD solution from your hardware vendor.

Some links relating to the Sun "Capacity on Demand" program:

http://www.sun.com/datacenter/cod.html
http://www.sun.com/servers/highend/10000/features/cod.html
http://www.sun.com/smi/Press/sunflash/2000-06/sunflash.20000628.2.html

dgoulet_at_vicr.com wrote:
> ** HP's 30-Day CPUs
>
> Before the dot-com bubble broke, capacity-on-demand schemes meant
> one thing: the ability to quickly and painlessly turn the volume
> up. Hewlett-Packard is one of many companies that now knows all
> too well that what goes up often has to come down. So HP is
> introducing a model rather artlessly known as Temporary Instant
> Capacity on Demand, or TICoD, for buyers of its Superdome
> servers.
>
> The new model lets customers buy servers with some dormant CPUs
> that can be activated when they buy electronic keys. Not much new
> there, but the $3,400 keys activate the CPUs for 30 days. If
> server demand falls, customers can either call HP to have the
> CPUs shut down or they can simply not renew the activation keys.
> - Larry Greenemeier
>
> Go deeper. Read:
> Plugged In
> http://update.informationweek.com/cgi-bin4/flo?y=eINP0BdFGA0V20Bfxb0AC
>
> Is There A Market For Utility Storage?
> http://update.informationweek.com/cgi-bin4/flo?y=eINP0BdFGA0V20BgMe0AX

• James

  ---

  James J. Morrow E-Mail: jmorrow_at_warthog.com Senior Principal Consultant Tenure Systems, Inc. McKinney, TX, USA

"The reasonable man adapts himself to the world: the unreasonable man

   persists in trying to adapt the world to himself. Therefore all progress     depends on the unreasonable man." -- George Bernard Shaw

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