Oracle OpenWorld Starts With Faster Databases and New Hardware - Arik Hesseldahl - News - AllThingsD

Oracle aims for the best of both worlds -- a hybrid row and column database platform running on a mix of commodity and specialized/proprietary hardware

"In a roughly 90-minute presentation, Ellison went on at length about how Oracle has shifted to so-called in-memory technology to speed up the databases that are the foundation of the company’s business by as much as 100 times. “Things that used to take hours can now be done in seconds,” he said.
Ellison also announced several new Oracle hardware products, including an appliance for backing up databases, and new systems based on a new generation of the SPARC processor known as the M6. The systems can support up to 32 terabytes of DRAM memory, allowing them to run entire applications in memory, the company says."

Oracle OpenWorld Starts With Faster Databases and New Hardware - Arik Hesseldahl - News - AllThingsD