Oracle expands cloud portfolio with Alloy infrastructure platform

Oracle opened its CloudWorld conference in Las Vegas with several new distributed services as it looks to expand its cloud portfolio.

The new services include Oracle Alloy, an infrastructure platform that enables customers to become their own cloud providers, and a version MySQL Heatwave optimised for Microsoft Azure.

Oracle Cloud Infrastructure's (OCI) Distributed Cloud is a platform that offers access to cloud services from anywhere via public, multi-cloud, hybrid, and dedicated environments. However, Oracle suggests that customers want more flexible cloud deployment options, with specific capabilities for low-latency connections and stronger controls for managing data regulations.

Organisations want to move their workloads to the cloud but are often faced with hurdles such as security, governance, and stringent data protection guidelines, according to Clay Magouyrk, the executive vice president of Oracle Cloud Infrastructure.

"With OCI's Distributed Cloud, we're able to give our customers the flexibility they need to deploy cloud services wherever they choose – and we're ultimately changing the way our customers think about the cloud," Magouyrk said.

Customers seeking to run workloads in specific locations and in a cloud of their choice are cited as examples by Oracle. Alloy offers up an infrastructure platform that service providers, software vendors, and other organisations (even telecommunications and cloud providers) can use to roll out their latest offerings to their own customers.

It can also be used independently within the user's data centre, where they can better align their workloads to regulatory requirements. The aim of the platform is to provide a space for these organisations to offer their own cloud services in a way that's customisable and streamlined.

Oracle is also continuing its ever-expanding partnerships with Microsoft and Amazon Web Services (AWS); the company has announced that MySQL, its relational database management system, is now available on AWS and will also be on Azure in the coming months.

The announcements also include Oracle Database Service for Microsoft Azure, which is now available across 12 regions through the Oracle Interconnect for Microsoft Azure services.