Buoyed by cloud sales, the software giant’s numbers are good, but some dispute the AI-driven nature of the company’s gains. Credit: IDG-Owned Oracle’s latest financial report boasts substantial increases in revenue, net income, and earnings per share, largely thanks to cloud sales, which the company was quick to credit to the rise of AI. The report for Q3 of fiscal 2024, released yesterday, said that Oracle had signed multiple large-scale cloud infrastructure contracts in the previous three months, with no end in sight, as CEO Safra Catz touted the company’s bright prospects in cloud. “We expect to continue receiving large contracts reserving cloud infrastructure capacity because the demand for our Gen2 AI infrastructure substantially exceeds supply,” she said, in a statement. “Despite the fact that we are opening new and expanding existing cloud data centers very, very rapidly.” In the past year, the company has expanded its cloud footprint considerably, announcing plans to enhance its Middle East cloud region, as well as in Africa and in Mexico, and was the first vendor to open a cloud region in Serbia and in Colombia, among other global cloud expansion plans. The company, which previously highlighted Oracle Cloud Infrastructure (OCI) demand for AI workloads as a chief driver of financial gains a year ago, said OCI, autonomous database, and strategic cloud applications pushed service license and support revenue up 11%, to $10 billion, for Q3 2024, while applications subscription revenues also rose by double digits, by 10% to $4.6 billion. Part of the move to Oracle’s Gen2 cloud infrastructure can be explained by the transitioning of many of the company’s Cerner health sciences customers to that platform, chairman and CTO Larry Ellison said. “In Q4, Oracle will start delivering its completely new Ambulatory Clinic Cloud Application Suite to these same customers,” he noted. That’s an important step forward, said Ellison, because the costs of running OCI are considerably lower than those of running the dedicated Cerner data center, and applications can be updated more regularly, along Oracle’s usual three-month schedule. It’s unquestionably an encouraging quarterly report for Oracle, whose partnerships with Nvidia, Microsoft, and other hyperscalers create an understandable momentum in the company’s infrastructure service, according to Eric Newmark, IDC group vice president. But, Newmark said, it’s difficult to square Oracle’s hyping up of its AI credentials from the reality. “No doubt that AI is driving increased demand for cloud, but I’m still unclear as to why AI is a strategic advantage for them versus other vendors,” he said. “I’ve been asking them for a year about how AI will drive revenue growth for them and they’ve provided no concrete answers. They also don’t yet have any direct pricing strategy around how to monetize AI.” Related content feature 10 projects top of mind for IT leaders today From embracing AI to modernizing infrastructure, IT leaders are focusing more on key business differentiators, risk mitigation, emerging issues, and transforming IT to accelerate change. By Mary Pratt May 20, 2024 11 mins Business IT Alignment Data and Information Security IT Strategy opinion Assembly required: 8 myths about knowledge management debunked Business leaders intent on fostering innovative cultures must differentiate between knowledge management and knowledge assembly. One involves systems, data, and collaboration; the other, insights, dialogue, serendipity, and courses of action. By Daniel Forrester and Jerold Zimmerman May 20, 2024 13 mins Content Management Systems Document Management Systems Staff Management analysis SAP customers see S/4HANA and AI as top digital transformation drivers With SAP’s end of mainstream maintenance for SAP Business Suite 7 set for 2027, recent findings from the US SAP user group reveal that companies are increasing focus on shifting to S/4HANA and embracing AI. By Thor Olavsrud May 20, 2024 6 mins SAP Generative AI IT Skills feature State of IT jobs: Mixed signals, changes ahead Layoffs and salary plateaus in the wake of exuberant pandemic-era IT hiring has the IT talent market in flux. And while employers pay premiums for hard-to-find AI skills, IT pros seek the same for filling in-office openings. By Sarah K. White May 17, 2024 10 mins Salaries Hiring IT Jobs PODCASTS VIDEOS RESOURCES EVENTS SUBSCRIBE TO OUR NEWSLETTER From our editors straight to your inbox Get started by entering your email address below. Please enter a valid email address Subscribe