Oracle takes on rivals

Oracle chief Larry Ellison, claims Sun Microsystems would perform better on his watch than it had under predecessors, adding that Sun's servers have set a new record for database performance versus IBM and HP, reports Bloomberg Businessweek.

However, IBM spokesman Rick Bause says Oracle's "transparent attempt to attain benchmark bragging rights backfires by exposing just how underpowered and inefficient Sun systems are since they're telling customers they'll need 27 Sun servers to beat the performance of three IBM machines."

Oracle closed the Sun Microsystems deal in January this year and said it would increase storage research and development spending by $1.5 billion in the 2011 fiscal year.

Compellent Technologies has expanded its partnership with VMware with the availability of Compellent Storage Centre systems bundled with VMware vCentre Site Recovery Manager, states Business Solutions.

The disaster recovery solution enables organisations to create a disaster-ready cloud environment by automating the process of data recovery.

Bruce Kornfeld, vice president of alliances and business development, Compellent, says: "As businesses turn to virtualised environments and the cloud for IT services, Compellent and VMware are helping these organisations recover from data loss in minutes with less hardware and software to buy and operate.”

Google has been testing an online storage tool called Cloud Picker, says TechCrunch.

Cloud Picker is an online storage product that allows users to organise and search photos, documents, videos and more that are stored in the cloud.

The tool is connected to Google Apps, Docs, and Sites, and was revealed to users when they tried to insert a file or image into a Google site. When they tried to embed the file, a 'Google Cloud Picker' window opened and asked users to log-in to their Google accounts.