Some information on what the Itanium announcement means for Oracle Rdb and Oracle Database on OpenVMS customers Kevin Duffy Tue, Mar 29, 2011 at 6:27 PM Reply-To: oraclerdb@jcc.com To: oraclerdb@jcc.com Dear Oracle Rdb and Oracle Database on OpenVMS Customers, On Tuesday, March 22nd, Oracle announced that we are discontinuing all new software development on the Intel Itanium microprocessor. At the same time Oracle announced that we will continue to provide support for current versions of Oracle software on Itanium-based servers in accordance with Oracle's Lifetime Support Policy. We are writing to explain in more detail what this means for the Oracle Rdb product family (* see note below for product family description) and Oracle Database on OpenVMS. We understand how critical the Oracle database products on OpenVMS and Itanium are to your business. When Rdb became an Oracle product in December of 1994 there were numerous reports of the end of life for Oracle Rdb. More than 16 years later, we continue to support and enhance Oracle Rdb and Oracle Database on OpenVMS. We know the Oracle VMS customer base well, we understand your needs, and we are proud of the trust and loyalty we have built with you over this time. The details on which Oracle product versions will be supported on Itanium are listed on http://www.oracle.com/us/corporate/features/itanium-346707.html. The terminal releases for OpenVMS on Itanium will be Oracle Database 10.2.0.5 and Oracle Rdb product family 7.3. The next release of Oracle Database on non-Itanium platforms will be 12g. We are also investigating additional extended support offerings. Please refer to this support note for the most up to date information on support for status for Oracle Database on OpenVMS: Oracle Database Support on the Itanium Processor Architecture [ID 1307745.1] (My Oracle Support login required). We have not yet made product plans for major releases of Oracle Rdb beyond version 7.3. Additional releases (such as Oracle Rdb 7.3.x and Oracle Database 10.2.0.5 updates) are planned to be delivered in the same manner as in prior versions. Since Oracle Rdb is an OpenVMS-only product, we are investigating other options available to our customers. Oracle also currently certifies and supports customers running both the Oracle Database on OpenVMS and Oracle Rdb on AlphaServers and on the Stromasys hardware emulators and will continue to do so. See http://www.oracle.com/technetwork/database/rdb/charon-vax-097107.html for more Stromasys emulator information. Oracle Rdb 7.1 has had 9 years of major and minor releases; Oracle Rdb 7.2 has had 5 years of major and minor releases to date. Premier and Extended Support provide 8 years of support after the initial release of a major version. These are followed by unlimited Sustaining Support. We are also investigating additional Extended Support offerings for the Rdb products. The most up to date information about the Oracle Lifetime Support policy can be found at: http://www.oracle.com/us/support/library/lifetime-support-technology-069183.pdf. Our planning on the steps forward from this point is not complete; we will update you as new information becomes available. We know many customers will continue to have concerns and questions and in many cases those questions will best be addressed in 1-1 conversations. If you would like to contact us with follow-up questions, please send mail to RdbInfo_US@oracle.com and we will get back in touch with you. Best Regards, Kevin Duffy