EMC, Oracle Get to Second Base

EMC Corp. (NYSE: EMC) and Oracle Corp. (Nasdaq: ORCL) have further cozied up to each other, with a new services offering that provides joint database and storage design services.

With the Oracle on EMC Database Accelerator Service (or, as we like to call it, OOEDAS!), consultants from each company's professional services groups will collaboratively design, deploy, and optimize an EMC storage system running with Oracle database software. The service, expected to be announced next week, will be priced at a flat fee of $30,000 for midsize database implementations, revenue the companies say they will split down the middle.

"You don't have to have Oracle design the database, then go to EMC to say, 'How should we implement the storage?' " says Don Swatik, VP of EMC's of global solutions group. "In one shot, you get your end-to-end solution designed and optimized." [Ed. note: And no extra charge for the buzzwords!] Swatik adds that EMC plans to develop similar industry alliances that include service elements.

But about that $30,000 flat fee: It has limits. "There's some reasonableness on the size of the offering," says Swatik. But he declined to specify how large [or, indeed, "reasonable"] a database would be permitted under the Oracle on EMC Database Accelerator Service. Also, the services fee doesn't include the price of any hardware or software.

The new EMC/Oracle service represents "phase two" of the two companies' closer partnership. Last fall, the two companies jointly opened the Oracle and EMC Joint Service Center (JSC), which provides technical support for their shared customers, located in Hopkinton, Mass. (see Oracle, EMC Open Service Center).The tighter partnership shows that both companies are eager to generate more high-margin services business. "Oracle knows the database market is flat," says one industry insider who requested anonymity. "They are desperately trying to get revenue streams by increasing their services revenues."

Oracle and EMC are also certifying "best practices" for automatically cloning Oracle 11i Application environments. No, there's no new technology here -- just documentation about how to use EMC TimeFinder to create a copy of Oracle Apps. "The real key from a customer point of view is having something totally blueprinted and proven," Swatik says. Check: It's blueprinted. Totally.

Of course, not every joint EMC/Oracle customer stands to benefit from the new offerings.

The expanded partnership "doesn't have much relevance for us," says Andy Miller, VP of technical architecture at Corporate Express Inc.