Thanks for all the comments and emails about the blog. It is great to hear from everyone and hear how your company is having success or the same issues with your applications. It is also interesting to hear from the database competition Oracle.
DB2 9.7 has a number of features that make it compatible with Oracle. This gives companies the opportunity to migrate from Oracle to DB2. I recently helped a client with an Oracle conversion and I guess more Oracle clients are beginning to evaluate the Oracle versus DB2 Cobra costs. The time and effort to move their applications from Oracle to DB2 Cobra is not free, but because Oracle contracts are confusing features are not included and will require a six-figure cost increase after an Oracle audit.
Some clients are looking at the cost of the Oracle UNIX platform and looking to DB2 9.7 as a stepping stone to ultimately re-host their Oracle applications on the mainframe z/OS DB2 environment. This conversation is getting even louder with all the cost savings of DB2 10 coming quickly and picking up stream as large Oracle customers move their systems to DB2 Cobra and z/OS DB2. I just got done reading about IBM’s and Coca-Cola’s success reducing cost with a SAP system after it was migrated from Oracle to DB2.
It takes some testing to do an Oracle conversion to DB2 Cobra or z/OS DB2, but after running the numbers, the savings can be extraordinary due to z/OS cost savings or just consolidating UNIX machines, platforms, and applications. Next time your new Oracle contract is up for renewal or an Oracle audit is completed, bring this cost saving idea up to management. I am pretty sure the cost saving numbers will get management to listen about how easy it is to do an Oracle conversion to DB2 or z/OS DB2.
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