Microsoft Azure Integration Services

By now, the ideas of virtualization, the cloud, and connected applications are mature. While the providers of these solutions try to get you to come to them, there is something holding this endeavor back. Perhaps, it’s security. And we’ve covered that. To recap, many cloud-based services are even more secure than your own set up. They must be. Because beyond the financial harm that could come their way, there is ever present risk to their reputation should their services be […]

Non-Microsoft­ Support of Microsoft Products

While not naming names, it is important to understand how ­non-Microsoft­ product support works. ­Non-Microsoft­ support can be reactive. That is, if all is going well, no one from the ­non-Microsoft­ support will reach out. ­Non-Microsoft­ support doesn’t include all products. For example, during our analysis, Miro identified an offering that supported only Azure, Office 365, SharePoint, Exchange, and Teams. Or, in other words, subscriptions. But what happens when the deployments on-premise or in a hybrid environment go awry? There […]

Exchange Server, SharePoint Server, and Skype for Business Server will become subscription licenses after Version 2019

Exchange Server, SharePoint Server, and Skype for Business Server will become subscription licenses after Version 2019. That announcement was made by Microsoft last year, with the timeframe of announcing the details after Windows Server 2022 was released. Windows Server 2022 was released on September 6, 2021, but, as of this writing, details remain undisclosed. What we do know is this: The next version of Exchange Server will support in-place upgrades from Exchange Server 2019 for a period of approximately two […]

ULA and Proprietary Hosting

Many organizations are at risk of failing an audit and violating their ULA with Oracle by engaging in “Proprietary Hosting” without realizing it. What is Proprietary Hosting? Proprietary Hosting is basically when an organization has a application, like a web application, that uses an Oracle database as a back end, and the application allows users who are not employees of the company to access the data, like employees of other companies, customers or prospects. As per Oracle’s definition 3 major […]

Oracle Proposes Retroactive Subscription Fees for Java and Announces New “Java Management Service”

Oracle Sales Teams Have Started Talking to Their Clients About Paying Retroactive Subscription Fees at the Same Time as The Company Has Launched It’s New “Java Management Service” Oracle has introduced a cloud service on June 9, 2021, named “Java Management Service.” This service offers a “single pane of glass” to manage Java deployments across the enterprise including both cloud and on-premise deployments. It tracks workstations, servers, and even third-party cloud services. It is designed to provide some insight on […]

Microsoft Dropping Support for Medium and Small Businesses

Microsoft will no longer offer direct support for medium and small businesses with Software Assurance spends below $250,000 per year Larger organizations who have a Software Assurance spend of $250,000 or more annually will be compelled to go to Unified Support. Smaller organizations will have to make do with partner support, unless they forego support altogether. “Sometime in 2023” (that’s a direct quote from Microsoft), incident-based support will be replaced with as-needed support. Microsoft will also offer credits toward Unified […]

Oracle Autonomous Database – Requirements, Limitations & Licensing

Oracle Autonomous Database may not be a fit for everyone. There are restrictions and limitations. There are many organizations that require some of the features not available in an Oracle Autonomous Database environment. There are also organizations that have strict security policies and cannot use the public cloud.

Oracle – Refreshable Pluggable Database Switchover as Disaster Recovery

Refreshable PDB (Pluggable Databases) Switchover as Disaster Recovery As noted in our blog; “Having a data recovery strategy in place is critical to ensuring business continuity in the event of an outage or disaster. When developing a data recovery strategy, it is essential to take into consideration the different licensing rules when deploying backups, failover (active/passive), and high-availability (active/active) scenarios.” Even though a bullet-proof disaster recovery (DR) solution offers the ultimate protection for enterprise data, businesses often don’t place a […]