Microsoft Ignite 2025 | Nathan Thomas, Oracle Cloud Infrastructure

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Nathan Thomas, Oracle Cloud Infrastructure

Nathan Thomas

Vice President of Product Management OCI

In this interview from Microsoft Ignite 2025, Nathan Thomas, vice president of multicloud at Oracle Cloud Infrastructure, joins theCUBE’s Rob Strechay to discuss the expanding collaboration between Oracle and Microsoft to shape cloud data platforms. Thomas highlights the momentum behind migrating and modernizing Oracle database workloads into Azure, emphasizing how this partnership enables customers to leverage private corporate data for AI applications. The conversation delves into the integration of Oracle AI databases with Azure services like OpenAI, AI Fo... Read more

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What is Oracle's multicloud strategy and its collaboration with Microsoft regarding the Oracle database? add

What additional capabilities were announced at AI World, and how do they complement Azure services? add

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Rob Strechay

>> Hello, and welcome to another episode of our coverage of Microsoft's Ignite Conference 2025. I'm Rob Strechay, and in this episode we're going to be talking about how Microsoft and Oracle are joining together to shape cloud data platforms. Today I'm excited to be joined by Nathan Thomas, the Vice President Multicloud for Oracle Cloud Infrastructure or OCI. Welcome on board, Nathan.

Nathan Thomas

>> Hey, thanks for having me, Rob. Great to be here.

Rob Strechay

>> I think there's just been a lot of buzz in general, but there's been a lot of positive buzz that we've been seeing at Ignite around Oracle's AI database, multicloud collaboration between Oracle and Azure and just AI in general. What's been your takeaway so far, being there on the floor?

Nathan Thomas

>> Yeah, so I've been here in San Francisco on the show floor and meeting with customers, and there's definitely a lot of positivity, a lot of energy. It's incredibly busy. There's just a general interest that we're seeing of integrating AI into applications and workloads. It's really kind of through the roof. We're talking to a lot of people who are looking to migrate and modernize their Oracle database workloads into Microsoft Azure. And of course, the solution that we've built together really is critical for that. So our solutions help play a role in really helping customers start to take advantage of AI by enabling them to use the Oracle AI databases that have all of their most important private corporate data in them, and then leverage that with inside of Azure, you with OpenAI, with AI Foundry, with Copilot Studio, and being able to modernize those applications with everything that Microsoft can bring to the table.

Rob Strechay

>> Yeah, I think that's so key to having a really true data platform, is that flexibility. At Oracle World, you said that multicloud is a key component of making Oracle AI database available everywhere. How does your partnership with Azure really play into this?

Nathan Thomas

>> Yeah, we're super committed to getting customers to be able to use the Oracle database everywhere that they need it, and part of that is this multicloud strategy to put it where they're using their cloud vendors. And we started with Microsoft over three years ago as our first multicloud partner through the Oracle Database@Azure are offering, but that really provides the Oracle AI database and Oracle Exadata on OCI in Microsoft data centers a year before anybody else was doing it. So we've had a great opportunity to support our joint customers by building out that infrastructure, our servers with the database, all the services and all the programs that go with it. And we now have that Oracle AI database in more than 30 Microsoft regions worldwide. That means it's right where the customers need it, low latency, really able to get to their applications quickly. That's really second only into the number of OCI regions we have around the world. And if you add it all up, OCI, Microsoft, and our other partners, we have more than 200 regions live or planned today.

Rob Strechay

>> At Ignite, you're talking about more than just the number of regions. You're also going into some depth about Oracle AI database services that are available. Can you tell me more about what's been going on in some of those services?

Nathan Thomas

>> Yeah, of course. We are in all these great regions, but that means part of the story. We've got to have all of the products and capabilities customers expect as well from Oracle database. So Oracle Database@Azure really offers the most complete set of Oracle AI database and related services outside of OCI. These are the services that bring that AI capability to customers integrated into the core database. Customers really don't have to use other services for things like AI vector processing and JSON databases that are built into the database at this point inside of Azure. A lot of our customers have migrated their on-prem Oracle database workloads to Microsoft Azure with Oracle Exadata database service, and that migration takes some effort, but we really offer high compatibility across environments by running the same hardware and the customer's choice of Oracle database 19c or 26ai. And then we offer reliability solutions like Oracle Zero Downtime Migration. This compatibility really helps simplify that process. And then when they get in there after customers start using Oracle Database@Azure, they can modernize by adding new capabilities like the AI hybrid vector search capabilities, and they can simplify operations using things like Oracle Autonomous AI database. Customers have access to Oracle Exadata and Exascale infrastructure, Oracle Database, Oracle Zero Data Loss, Autonomous Recovery Service, Oracle Database Service, OCI GoldenGate, Data Safe, that full set of things that customers expect to see is available for them inside of Azure now, which is a huge change.

Rob Strechay

>> Of course, most of the focus or much of the focus at Ignite has been around AI this week, to put it mildly, and you kind of touched on this a little bit earlier, but how does Oracle Database@Azure really play into this, a customer's AI strategy?

Nathan Thomas

>> Yeah, we hear from our customers that they're very excited about using the technology Azure provides in this space, and we've done a lot of work to make it easy to integrate there. So we really have support for a full AI for data strategy inside of the Database@Azure solution, so they can really use AI effectively leveraging that good quality data that happens inside of their Oracle databases. So that includes things like AI vector search, which really seamlessly integrates with business data, allowing users to really enrich their analyses and responses without deploying a lot of extra services. It includes AI agent integration, so things like our select AI agent capabilities that run within the database. That again, reduces implementation costs for customers. Building those agentic solutions, developers can build retrieval augmented generation or RAG pipelines directly within the database, enabling really more effective, context aware data-driven applications and the use of AI technologies to really automate database operations themselves, so being able to manage those databases more simply. We really announced a whole bunch of additional capabilities at AI world as well that help our customers really make AI easier for developers to use.

Rob Strechay

>> How do these services and capabilities really complement those from Azure though?

Nathan Thomas

>> Yeah, so our customers really tell us that they want to see these things playing together. That is they want to have their data coming in the Oracle database that they trust and they want to be using all of these incredible capabilities that Azure provides in the AI space. They're looking to innovate and build applications on top of. So Microsoft provides these leading services like Azure, OpenAI, the AI Foundry, Copilot Studios, and other AI services, and by combining those with the Oracle Database@Azure inside of Microsoft data centers, you've got low latency, high performance connectivity so that organizations can enable that application data access and analysis to happen, and they can really start to get that AI revolution applied to their most sensitive data running inside of those databases in a way that they know that they can trust.

Rob Strechay

>> So Oracle has had a big push to grow Autonomous AI Database over the years. How are customers using it in Azure now?

Nathan Thomas

>> Yeah, we see customers using Autonomous for a wide range of applications. It's certainly Oracle's core database engine and technology 19c and 26ai, but it's provided in a way that makes it that much easier to administer and use. You see that word autonomous in there, it's there for a reason, so it makes it a simpler product for customers to use and administer. We also have extended that beyond just core database, so it's now available for workload-tuned options, transaction processing, JSON, and the Autonomous AI Lakehouse. The AI Lakehouse in particular lets you analyze Apache Iceberg tables alongside traditional Oracle tables, really letting you get direct data sharing for workloads in Microsoft environments. And then the whole concept of a lot of the autonomous products is things like elastic scaling that really lets you ramp up resources for high-throughput data loading. Once the loading is complete, it automatically scales back down to cost-optimized. So you really get this autonomous benefit that you see with the database with the lakehouse, trying to make it simpler and more cost-efficient for customers to run Oracle's incredible database products.

Rob Strechay

>> Yeah, I think, again, you really recently announced some really exciting stuff here with base database service in Azure and the expansion of Exadata Exascale service in Azure. What are the goals of these services for customers?

Nathan Thomas

>> Yeah, this is part of that broad, making sure we have all of the products and capabilities of Oracle inside of Microsoft to meet all of the different needs our customers have. These are the same core database engines and capabilities, 19c and 26ai, but they're really targeted more towards small and medium businesses, departmental teams, and independently funded workloads. So starting on-prem or on IaaS who want to manage cloud-first database experience inside of Microsoft. Those services really offer the full database functionality with simplified operations, faster time-to-value, and really predictable costs. So Oracle-based database service, for example, is really suited for standard workloads with Oracle Exadata database service on Exascale infrastructure intended for high performance and scalability. Both really complement the existing Oracle Database@Azure services and are strong first steps towards a smooth path to modernizing onto Microsoft for our customers.

Rob Strechay

>> Yeah, I mean, you guys have spent an enormous amount of time and effort really integrating Oracle AI database into the Azure environment. What are some of the key highlights that you'd like to share?

Nathan Thomas

>> Yeah, we've really tried to treat the Oracle Database@Azure product. It's a fully integrated solution for Microsoft's customers, so that it looks and feels like a standard service. So there's real transparency there both to Microsoft users and for Oracle AI database applications, because it's really a native service. Customers don't have to jump to a lot of hoops to set it up, just get your connection string and go. With a full Oracle AI database compatibility, customers can run Oracle Database 19c or 26ai, and it looks the same as it does anywhere else. Provisioning is really the same as what they're used to doing inside of Azure. So customers can provision straight within the Azure console. You access and authenticate directly and transparently behind the scenes so you don't have to log into two different environments. And then the standard de observability tools that they use. So all of the Oracle AI database metrics are directly available within your familiar Microsoft tools. And of course, all of the traditional Oracle database management tools work just the same. So it's that great combo of being able to use what you're used to in Microsoft and then still be able to use it the way you're always used to using Oracle.

Rob Strechay

>> All of that stuff is really hard and I know you guys have spent a lot of time on the integration, but you also spent a lot of time on the integration from a commercial perspective as well with Azure. How are customers leaning in and taking advantage of that?

Nathan Thomas

>> Yeah, of course. Our customers view this in two ways. There's always the technology integration, but then there's the procurement and the purchasing processes and all of those things that needs to be well integrated as well. But it's really a priority for our customers that Oracle Database offers commercial models that are simple for them to consume in and enabling them to commit and purchase credits in one location and use them as needed. In addition to commercial integration, really offer that simplified purchasing and the ability to leverage Oracle and Microsoft licenses with license portability, commitments across both sides and various discount programs, providing real better visibility for capacity planning and budget management. And then at AI World, of course, we announced Multicloud Universal Credits, which is a new licensing option for Oracle customers that enables customers to procure and buy Oracle AI database and OCI services in the cloud of their choice, streamlining procurement with flexible terms and consistent contracts across our hyperscale partners.

Rob Strechay

>> Well, that is really exciting. Thank you for joining us from live in San Francisco there where you're interacting with these customers ongoing. I really appreciate you joining us, Nathan.

Nathan Thomas

>> Thank you so much for having me, Rob. It was a great time.

Rob Strechay

>> And thank you for watching this episode of Microsoft's Ignite Conference 2025, our extended coverage here on theCUBE, the leader in tech analysis and news. Stay tuned.