Oracle Cuts Database Prices Again For Multicore Chips
By MARK BOSLET
December 19, 2005 7:25 p.m.
PALO ALTO, Calif. -- Oracle Corp. (ORCL) on Monday lowered the price it charges for its database running on certain computers employing multiple-core chips.
The pricing decision helps resolve a long-brewing conflict with computer maker Sun Microsystems Inc. (SUNW). But analysts said it stems in part from the competition Oracle is experiencing with low-cost open-source databases and Microsoft Corp.'s (MSFT) new version of its database, SQL Server 2005.
Oracle Vice President Jacqueline Woods said the new policy expands a price cut offered in July. At the time, Oracle said it would charge less than its standard $40,000 per processor for its database running on computers using multicore chips - those with two or more computer brains on a single piece of silicon. Oracle's previous policy had been to charge $40,000 for each chip core, so the owner of a computer chip with four cores would pay $160,000.
Computers with multicore chips provide greater performance than those with single-core chips.
The July reduction cut the charge per core to 75% of the standard charge for multicore machines. So software for the same four-core machine would come to $120,000.
Monday's cuts trim the price for Sun's new UltraSparc T1 chips with multiple cores to 25% of the standard charge. Some of the Sun Fire T1000 and T2000 computers running the chip have eight cores.
The reduction also will extend to some of Oracle's applications software.
Prices also were cut for computers running multiple-core chips from Intel Corp. (INTC) and Advanced Micro Devices Inc. (AMD). The new charge will be 50% of the standard fee.
"It makes a lot of sense for them," says Stuart Williams, an analyst at Technology Business Research Inc. in Hampton, N.H. Oracle's database for Intel- and AMD-based machines has been under a lot of pricing pressure, says Williams.
At the same time, the company wants to create an added incentive for customers to use its database with large clusters of machines like Sun's T1000 and T2000, increasingly popular alternatives to using just one machine, says Williams.
In a statement, Sun Senior Vice President Larry Singer said customers who were penalized under the old licensing policy now have a greater choice of hardware.
-By Mark Boslet, Dow Jones Newswires; 650-496-1366; mark.boslet@dowjones.com |
