OpenWorld 2013: Oracle’s 2 Most Important Employees Are…
Admittedly, the headline is a bit over the top: Who are Oracle’s (ORCL) two most important employees? CEO Larry Ellison is an obvious first choice. But shockingly, Ellison isn’t on The VAR Guy’s Top 2 list. Neither is Mark Hurd nor Safra Catz. Has The VAR Guy lost his mind while attending OpenWorld 2013 this week? Absolutely not. The mystery Oracle leaders are…
… Executive VP John Fowler and Executive VP Thomas Kurian — the embodiment of hardware and software engineered to work together. Sure, The VAR Guy has interviewed Fowler and Kurian separately — multiple times. But for some strange reason, our resident blogger has never really seen the two executives together — delivering their shared vision at the same time.
That will change on Tuesday, when Fowler and Kurian deliver a joint keynote at Oracle OpenWorld 2013. (A tip of the hat to Oracle Chief Communications Officer Bob Evans, who mentioned the shared Fowler-Kurian stage time to The VAR Guy earlier today.)
Two Minds, One Vision
Admittedly, Engineered Systems is Larry Ellison’s vision. Mark Hurd has to sell the vision. Safra Catz has to manage all the finances tied to the vision.
But it takes two deeply technical minds (Fowler on hardware, Kurian on software) to execute the Engineered Systems vision.
Fowler mentioned yesterday that it requires about $100 million to develop and engineer a new processor. The VAR Guy can only imagine the R&D price tag for system software, applications, middleware, databases and more. But the total price tag is $5 billion in annual R&D.
The Big Debate
Some critics allege Oracle is trying to lock customers into a single-vendor solution. Oracle insists its solutions are open, scalable and reduce customer spend on time-consuming integration efforts.
Mark Hurd uses basic math to frame Oracle’s response: “The overall server market measured in units is either flat or down. What we reported last week was Engineered Systems revenue growing 60 percent. We’re penetrating with 40 percent of customers being brand new to Oracle, and 60 percent purchased again.”
How much credit do Fowler and Kurian deserve? Perhaps The VAR Guy is overstating the situation — calling them Oracle’s two most important employees. But if you really think about it: Oracle’s software strategy would collapse right now without fully optimized hardware. And Oracle’s hardware strategy would collapse right now without tightly integrated software.
In the Information Age, which side of the equation is more important: Hardware or software? The VAR Guy suspects Fowler and Kurian will argue “both” during their keynote on Sept. 24.