The clients have spoken and Oracle has listened!

When I first blogged about Essbase 19c being available, I mentioned it was only BYOL (bring your own license) and mused that I would expect that to change. Later I heard that Essbase going-forward was really not available on a Cloud model (pay as you go) so the only option was for you to own Essbase+ (AKA “Essbase on-prem”) and BYOL your Essbase+ license to run it on Oracle cloud infrastructure (OCI). Edward, Ashish Jain (Oracle Essbase Product Manager), and I held webcasts to over 1,000 people over the last few weeks, and the number one concern was from the clients who had already converted to cloud in OAC, because they would have to rebuy on-prem to go to 19c.

Well customers called Oracle in droves to vent their frustration and desires and Oracle has listened. What does that mean?

Coming in early 2020 to an Oracle Cloud Marketplace near you will be an option to either get Essbase 19c as BYOL OR “License Included”. This new option will allow clients to migrate from OAC (or net new customers!) to go to 19c without having to rebuy Essbase+ licenses. From what I understand the price will be $1221 per OCPU. At that price, I believe it is in parity with OAC for small deployments and it gets better for larger deployments. I have heard Oracle is committed to making sure this is a positive experience for clients so make sure you work with your sales rep as every client is unique and they will make sure you are at cost parity or better in the transition to 19c.

I want to reiterate that this will not be Oracle managed: you will need to install and manage the infrastructure in OCI. From what I learned from doing it myself, there are a lot of prerequisites, options, and steps to go through in the setup. I recommend if you are planning on installing your first instance, elicit the help of someone who has done it.

I am glad that Oracle has given us a way forward and they listened (it’s a Hanukah miracle!). Since the new Star Wars has just come out, may the force be with you.

(Thanks Edward for editing the post to make sure I was accurate and coherent is what I was saying)