Why Oracle Database Customers Choose Independent Support · Why Oracle Database Customers Choose Independent Support. ... • Extended Support — Increased pricing of ... Why Oracle

A Rimini Street White Paper

Why Oracle® Database CustomersChoose Independent Support

About Rimini Street, Inc.

Rimini Street is the global leader in providing independent enterprise software support services. The company has redefi ned enterprise support services since 2005 with an innovative, award-winning program that enables Oracle and SAP licensees to save up to 90 percent on total support costs. Clients can remain on their current software release without any required upgrades for at least 15 years. Over 1000 global, Fortune 500, midmarket, and public sector organizations from a broad range of industries have selected Rimini Street as their trusted, independent support provider.

Rimini Street and the Rimini Street logo are trademarks of Rimini Street, Inc. All other company and product names may be trademarks of their respective owners. Copyright ©2014-2015. All rights reserved.

www.riministreet.com

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Executive Summary .................................................................................3

Oracle Lifetime Support Policy ................................................................4

Oracle Database Release Analysis ..........................................................5

Key Advantages of Independent Support .................................................7

The Software Vendor Support Model Is Expensive and Outdated .............8

Next Steps: You Have a Choice of Annual Support Providers ...................9

Recommendations for Oracle Database Licensees ................................10

Contents

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Why Oracle Database Customers Choose Independent Support

Executive Summary

With more than 320,000 installs, Oracle Database is universally recognized as the leading database even among SAP® customers. It is mature and stable and more than supports your business requirements. There are typically few issues, and so your support tickets with Oracle are most likely rare.

However, there are several pain points for many Oracle Database customers. First is total cost of ownership (TCO) — including the high cost of operating, maintaining and upgrading the database. Secondly, Oracle Database customers are constantly concerned about performance, availability and security. And fi nally, the limitations of Oracle’s support policies for Oracle Database in a virtualized environment have caused many companies not to virtualize their Oracle Database.

This white paper summarizes the Oracle Lifetime Support Policy for Oracle Technology products (including its policy on supporting a virtualized Oracle Database), analyzes the strategic roadmap ahead for customers using specifi c releases of Oracle Database under Oracle annual support, and concludes with actionable recommendations for Oracle Database licensees. Major points:

• There is limited ROI in upgrading from today’s feature-rich database releases.

• You can save signifi cant funds by leveraging independent support to reduce maintenance fees and related costs.

• Your current Oracle Database release can run your operations for decades to come.

• Independent support can help you reduce risk and leave options open for new technologies.

Independent support from Rimini Street replaces Oracle annual support for your Oracle Database, enabling you to save 50 percent on annual support fees and up to 1.5 times your total vendor support fees over a decade, including the avoidance of expensive “forced” upgrades.

Oracle Database licensees are choosing independent support from Rimini Street for substantial cost savings, guaranteed ultra-responsive support, premium features, and reduced risk — and because today, hundreds of world-class organizations have already validated that independent support is a proven option.

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Oracle has standardized its support policies across its many different organically developed and acquired product lines. This policy is known today as the Oracle Lifetime Support Policy1, which sets consistent support policies, prices and timelines for most Oracle products. While standardization has its benefi ts, Oracle is reluctant to negotiate any exceptions to or deviations from its standard Lifetime Support Policy.

Oracle’s standard Lifetime Support Policy has three phases:

• Premier Support — Oracle’s “standard” support, typically lasting for fi ve years from general availability (GA) at a cost of 22 percent of your license fee, often with annual increases with each renewal.

• Extended Support — Increased pricing of an additional 10 percent in Year 1, plus an additional 20 percent in Years 2 and 3; limited bug fi xes, with less commitment to interoperability updates and third-party platform certifi cations; lasts for three years following the end of Premier Support. Extended Support is not always offered.

• Sustaining Support — Only fi xes, updates and Critical Patch Updates (CPUs) created during the Premium Support phase. Sustaining Support specifi cally excludes new updates, fi xes, security alerts, data fi xes, critical patch updates and new product certifi cations. Cost is 22 percent of your original license fee and lasts indefi nitely.

Oracle Virtualization Support Policy

Although Oracle says it provides support for a virtualized database with third-party vendors, the reality is less convincing. Oracle states: “Oracle will only provide support for issues that either are known to occur on the native OS, or can be demonstrated not to be as a result of running on VMWare.”2 This can result in fi nger-pointing between vendors and you the customer being stuck in the middle, not receiving the support you need — or simply refraining from moving your database to a virtual machine. In fact, a direct result of Oracle’s support policy is that a far lower percentage of customers have virtualized their Oracle Database compared to the percentage of customers who have virtualized non-Oracle databases.

Oracle Lifetime Support Policy

1 Oracle Corporation, Oracle Lifetime Support Policy, Oracle Technology Products, February, 2014.

2 Oracle Corporation, Support Position for Oracle Products Running on VMWare Virtualized Environments, ID 249212.1, November, 2010.

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GA Date Premier

Support Ends

Extended

Support Ends

Sustaining

Support Ends

8.1.7 Sept. 2000 Dec. 2004 Dec. 2006 Indefi nite

9.2 July 2002 July 2007 July 2010 Indefi nite

10.1 Jan. 2004 Jan. 2009 Jan. 2012 Indefi nite

10.2 July 2005 Jul. 2010 Jul. 2013* Indefi nite

11.1 Aug. 2007 Aug. 2012 Aug. 2015 Indefi nite

11.2 Sept. 2009 Jan. 2015 Jan. 2018 Indefi nite

12.1 June 2013 July 2018 Jul. 2021 Indefi nite

10g and Earlier Releases

If you are on Oracle Database 10.2 or a prior release, you’re already on Sustaining Support and therefore receiving virtually no support. Many customers commonly refer to this stage as “de-support.” Amazingly, Oracle customers are still paying 22 percent simply for old patches and fi xes.

Important points for 10.2 and earlier customers to consider:

• You are limited to Sustaining Support and yet may be quite happy with the database itself. Twenty-two percent of your original license fees goes to a support offering that doesn’t provide CPUs or even attempt to fi x your issues; this provides practically no value.

• Upgrading to 12c is very complicated, and apart from offering the questionable benefi t of multi-tenancy, 12c delivers little business value. Upgrading to 12c from release levels 8, 9 and 10.1 is a complex two-step process, requiring the intermediate stage of an upgrade to 11g. Rimini Street recommends postponing an upgrade to 12c until you really need the functionality.

11g: Releases 11.1 and 11.2

11g is widely considered to be a very solid database, offering robust functionality and very few issues. However, 11.1 will be de-supported in August 2015, after which no new CPUs will be available. 11.2 will enter Extended Support in January 2015, after which you will continue to receive support similar to Premier Support though at an increased cost.

Oracle Database Release Analysis

*Through July 2015, Extended Support for 10.2 will be available but limited to Severity 1 fi xes only; Critical Patch Updates (CPUs) will not be made available.3

3 Oracle Corporation, Oracle Software Technical Support Policies, May 2, 2014.

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Important points for 11g customers to consider:

• For 11.1, as with 10.2, Sustaining Support offers almost no value, considering its high cost.

• With 11.2 you will be paying increased annual fees for support you seldom use. Plus, according to Oracle, Extended Support may or may not include certifi cation with some new third-party products/versions.4

• While it may be easier to upgrade to 12c from 11g than from earlier releases, it is still a complex process. And before you walk down that path, you should independently verify the return on investment (ROI) you anticipate by upgrading. Can you provide your board a solid business case for upgrading that’s based on data and assumptions that don’t come from Oracle? Many customers will struggle to deliver this but it is a crucial analysis that needs to occur. Postponing an upgrade can enable you to focus on important more strategic issues.

12c: Release 12.1

12c is Oracle’s “latest and greatest.” The multi-tenancy feature is important for those interested in moving to the cloud.

Important points for 12c customers to consider:

• Check your tickets for Oracle Database support. How often do you actually need support? You may consider Oracle Support an “insurance policy,” but is the high cost of that policy really worth it?

• If you’re already on 12c, then you should be very content for the next fi ve years or more. It is unlikely Oracle will release any new functionality that will be critical and provide an ROI for your business.

Options to Consider for Oracle Database Customers on All Releases

1. Continue to pay 22 percent or more for support that is seldom used — and is potentially of little value if you are on Sustaining Support.

2. Switch to independent support — As a Rimini Street client, you are assigned a named Primary Support Engineer (PSE) who will respond to every critical support request in 30 minutes or less (actual average response time is under fi ve minutes). Our PSEs work closely with a team of Oracle Database technical and functional experts. This ultra-responsive service level is available 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, 365 days a year. With Rimini Street you also retain the option of upgrading to Oracle Database 11.2 or 12.1 at a later date — but you’ll upgrade only if and when it makes sense for your business, not just because upgrading is high on Oracle’s agenda for your strategic roadmap.

4 Oracle Corporation, Oracle Software Technical Support Policies, May 2, 2014.

Broken Support Model

“The packaged software maintenance model is broken. Don’t reward software vendors for it by staying on their upgrade treadmill at their arbitrary 18 or 22 percent a year of software ‘license value.’ … ”

— Vinnie Mirchandani, Deal Architect

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Customers who switch to Rimini Street Support for Oracle Database

enjoy the following benefi ts:

• Cost savings. Save 50 percent over Oracle annual support fees, and remain on your current database release for as long as you wish — fi ve, ten, fi fteen years or more.

• Deep expertise. Rimini Street’s program for Oracle Database licensees includes support for all aspects and components of the Oracle Database product including:

n Active Data Guardn Application Expressn Data Maskingn Database Diagnostics & Confi gurationn Database Vaultn Enterprise Managern In-Memory Database Cachen OLAPn Partitioningn Performance Tuning n Real Application Clusters (RAC)n Warehouse Builder

• Expert database consulting at no additional charge. With independent support from Rimini Street you receive expert consultation from our Technology Support Services experts around best practices, confi gurations and hardware. This helps you ensure interoperability, security and optimal system performance.

• Database virtualization support. Regardless of where the issue lies, Rimini Street will work with you to diagnose the problem and determine a solution. No fi nger-pointing here.

• A tailored, holistic approach to security. 61 percent of Oracle Database users say they are at least two CPU cycles behind — or simply don’t know how far behind they are.5 Two CPU cycles is six months to a year or more before a patch actually gets applied — and that’s after Oracle fi nally comes out with the patch. Companies relying on Critical Patch Updates are vulnerable. Rimini Street can guide you in the application of a holistic approach to security to keep your database secure without constant patching.

• Option of upgrading to Oracle Database 12.1 at a later date. When you switch to Rimini Support for Oracle Database, you can upgrade only if and when it makes sense for your business; you are no longer obligated to follow Oracle’s agenda and timelines.

Key Advantages of Independent Support

Why Switch?

“Why switch to Rimini Street Support? It works. It’s smooth. It’s a huge nonevent. And you get robust support. You take the driver’s seat, and you save money. It’s almost too good to be true.”

— Mark Wikingstad, Chief Information Offi cer, UCI International

5 Joseph McKendrick, Research Analyst, “Closing the Security Gap: 2012 IOUG Enterprise Data Security Survey,” Unisphere Research, November, 2012.

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Fairness and Relevance of Vendor Support Model Questioned

The big software vendors have enjoyed a virtual monopoly on support services for their products, and with today’s 90 percent profi t margins for the vendor on its support operations, for every 10 support dollars you pay the vendor, the vendor spends only one dollar on actual support. Customers are coming to the conclusion that the vendor support model is at best dated — and at worst obsolete and grossly unfair to the enterprise software licensee.

And industry analysts agree: you may be spending too much on enterprise software annual support and receiving limited value in return. Ongoing maintenance and operational costs typically consume the majority of the IT budgets, with only 13 percent available for business transformation initiatives.6

The Software Vendor Support Model Is Expensive and Outdated

6 Gartner, “Gartner IT Key Metrics Data, 2014 IT Enterprise Summary Report,” January 31, 2014

IT Spending Categories*

13%Business Transformation

Initiatives87%

Ongoing Operations

and Enhancements

n High Cost, Low Value Maintenance Expenses Limit Innovation

*Gartner, “Gartner IT Key Metrics Data, 2014 IT Enterprise Summary Report” January 31, 2014

Oracle Database Client Snapshot:

The Valspar Corporation

Industry: Chemical ManufacturingRevenue: $4 BillionEmployees: 9,800

• Databases: Oracle 10gR2

EE/SE + Partitioning,

Essbase Plus

• Operating Systems: Solaris

10, Red Hat Linux 6.3

• App Servers: OAS 9i

• Applications: EBS 11.5.10,

Oracle Transportation

Management

• Reporting: OBIEE,

Discoverer, Hyperion

• Middleware: BPEL Process

Manager, WebCenter Imaging

Valspar selected Rimini Street to support its Oracle Technology and applications and reduce its support costs by 50 percent.

Expert diagnosis of performance problem areas, root cause analysis, and action plans to restore system performance at no extra charge are huge benefi ts for Valspar as its system usage grows.

“Rimini Street’s value proposition … becomes very strategic, almost invaluable. In terms of value add, it’s not incremental, it’s not additive. It’s a multiplier effect. An order of magnitude.”

— Tom Grooms, CIO, Valspar

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A Better Option: Oracle Database Licensees Realize Value with Rimini Street

Hundreds of world-class organizations are exercising their right to select the annual support provider that best fi ts their needs and budget.

Independent support from Rimini Street replaces your annual support program from the vendor. Rimini Street provides premium support so you can continue to cost-effectively run your Oracle Database for the next decade or longer with no required upgrades. Oracle Database customers choose independent support from Rimini Street for:

• Substantial cost savings — Guaranteed savings of 50 percent over vendor annual support fees.

• Premium, relevant, cutting-edge service model — Guaranteed ultra-responsive support and premium features such as support for security, interoperability and performance tuning — all at no additional cost.

• Greater strategic fl exibility — Rimini Street can help you avoid costly upgrades, extend the life of your current, stable database release, and reduce risk as you position yourself for the next proven technology platform.

Many organizations utilize independent support as a key aspect of their application strategy, using the savings from independent support to address real business problems around their systems while evaluating new technologies at their own measured, deliberate pace — not according to the vendor’s release timeline and agenda.

Next Steps: You Have a Choice of Annual Support Providers

“Univera has relied on Rimini Street’s support for Oracle EBS and Oracle Technology since 2012. We appreciate the signifi cant investments Rimini Street has made in order to deliver robust support for these complex Oracle products. By switching to Rimini Street, Univera has received more responsive service and we have redirected the savings to more strategic projects needed by the business.”

—Ron Billock, CIO, Univera, Inc.

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• Move to independent support — Save on your maintenance fees and upgrade costs, and run your database with independent support from Rimini Street.

• Maximize the value of current releases — Extend the longevity of your established database and don’t do an upgrade that has zero business value. But know that you can upgrade to Oracle Database 12.1 under Rimini Street Support if you wish.

• Use your savings from independent support to address real business problems around your system such as ongoing innovation and ever-changing business requirements.

Recommendations for OracleDatabase Licensees

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Why Oracle Database Customers Choose Independent Support · Why Oracle Database Customers Choose Independent Support. ... • Extended Support — Increased pricing of ... Why Oracle