Michael Dell, Larry Ellison define the future of the data centre

Michael Dell and Larry Ellison shared the stage at a news conference in New York on 2 April to discuss how their companies and standards-based technology are lowering costs and improving value in corporate data centres.

"Economic conditions have actually accelerated the shift to standards-based systems for a larger portion of the computing market," Dell said. "Dell servers, running Oracle software, perform up to 89% faster and are 39% less expensive than proprietary alternatives - this is the type of value our customers demand, and Dell and Oracle are delivering today."

Over the past year, nearly 10 000 new customers worldwide have chosen Dell for network servers, storage systems and enterprise services. Dell will preview today how these systems and services form the foundation of a more flexible and cost-effective data centre.

"Dell`s vision for the future is grounded in our customers` primary needs to protect existing investments, increase the flexibility of their infrastructure, maximise choice and help lower the total cost of computing," Dell added. "Many vendors in our industry are proposing complex solutions for customers that rely on costly proprietary technologies, extensive and expensive services, and that ultimately limit choice."

Both CEOs are strong proponents of standards-based, low-cost clustered servers as the optimal building blocks for future for the data centres. "If you want higher performance, you need to be willing to spend less. Oracle9i Real Application Clusters allows you to assemble, with Dell 2 and processor machines, your own super computer," said Larry Ellison, chairman and CEO, Oracle Corp.

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"You have a complete, fault-tolerant system created out of standards-based components. If one machine fails, it doesn`t matter. A data centre can see dramatically better reliability and scalability than with any single machine. That is really on-demand computing."

Dell and Oracle are rapidly deploying this technology within their own companies, as are many of the world`s largest businesses, government and education institutions. With more than 22 000 Oracle-on-Dell installations in 2002, the companies have already demonstrated strong success in delivering value to wide range of customers, including Acuity Brands` Lighting Group, Nineteenth Judicial District Court of Baton Rouge, La, Electronic Arts, Menasha Corporation, Mercedes Benz Customer Assistance Centre and Precision Response Corporation.