Oracle launches dedicated Oracle Government Cloud in UK
- Summary:
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Oracle has been going after AWS’s infrastructure business. The launch of the Oracle Government Cloud expands on recent regional investments.
The move further highlights Oracle’s recent push to go after AWS’s infrastructure business. Many public sector organisations in the UK already uses Oracle applications, so a dedicated government infrastructure offering by the vendor in the cloud may well appeal when making purchasing decisions.
However, AWS has been making good headway in the public sector in recent years, as have UK providers, such as UKCloud, which have an advantage in being able to allay data sovereignty concerns and are attracting a big chunk of buyers via the G-Cloud.
Oracle’s push to drive IaaS uptake amongst its customer base was made clear at last year’s Oracle Open World event, where CTO Larry Ellison optimistically declared “Amazon’s lead is over”.
The news today builds on Oracle’s recently announced expanded UK and EU-Germany regions, which are expected to come online in the second half of this calendar year.
Oracle claims that the dedicated UK Government Cloud will allow all elements of the UK government to move workloads to the cloud, whilst still meeting domestic security requirements and protocols.
The vendor added that it builds on its already extensive portfolio of security and encryption solutions and meets all of the HMG Cloud Security Principles. Additionally, the Oracle UK Government Cloud has been awarded a Cyber Essentials Plus certificate, which certifies its solutions as meeting the standards endorsed by the UK government.
Dermot O’Kelly, senior vice president and country leader, Oracle UK, Ireland & Israel, said:
At Oracle, security is at the heart of everything we do. We understand that the confidentiality, integrity and availability of your information is vital to your business. Security is embedded in Oracle’s “DNA”- within the product, the development cycle, and Cloud Operations practices – to ensure your information remains your information.
Mission critical data can only be maintained by having the most stringent security measures in place. Today’s announcements show we share the Government’s commitment to provide the highest possible levels of security.
Mike Parsons, Director General, Capabilities and Resources at the Home Office, added:
The security of our data is of paramount importance to us. The solution Oracle has built for us is delivering the security we need, meaning we can confidently begin to move away from our existing on-premise infrastructure and realise the benefits of hosting our business-critical data in the public cloud.
My take
If Oracle wants to go after AWS and win business from public sector favourites such as UKCloud, this announcement was necessary. Particularly as Brexit looms and concerns over data sovereignty continue to grow. However, there is more choice available than ever for government buyers when it comes to cloud solutions, so only time will tell whether or not Oracle can win favour over the competition.