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As Oracle CEO announces new 'Exalytics' integrated business intelligence stack at user conference, analysts lament technical focus of his presentation

Analysts have criticised Larry Ellison's opening keynote at the Oracle user conference in San Francisco last night as "abysmal" and "mind numbing".

Ellison used the keynote to announce Exalytics, a new integrated hardware and database software stack for business intelligence. The new stack integrates Oracle's business intelligence software with its 'Ten Times' in-memory database, promising faster performance.

The machine boasts 40 processor cores, 1 terabyte's worth of memory and can store up to 10 terabytes of compressed data. It adds to Oracle's existing Exa- range, which includes the Exadata database machine and Exalogic middleware system.

However, analysts in the audience criticised the absence of customer case studies and demonstrable business benefits.

Ovum analyst Carter Lusher said the presentation was a missed opportunity to present a vision that unites Oracle's diverse product portfolio. "Rather, the crowd in attendance was subjected to mind numbing technical specifications about Oracle’s Exadata and Exalogic appliances. This recitation of specs was a missed opportunity."

"I feel bad for the marketing folks at [O]racle," analyst R "Ray" Wang, of Constellation Research tweeted during the presentation. "This is abysmal and out of their control."

Wang tweeted positively about the Exalytics product itself. "Exalytics is what SAP wants to build but can only dream of," he wrote. "[SAP's in-memory BI appliance] HANA is in shambles according to most sources".

It is the second year in a row that Ellison used his opening presentation at OpenWorld to showcase its high-performance, high-cost range of integrated hardware and software stack systems, having focussed on Exadata and Exalogic last year. Ellison says Oracle has so far sold 1,000 Exadata machines, which carry a with rate-card price tag of over $1 million for a full rack.     

While undoubtedly a money-spinner for the company, it is questionable how many of the 45,000 registered attendees at the OpenWorld conference are in the market for these systems.