Oracle 10gR2 is winding down – time to move on

Oracle 10g is a good database product, and it’s stood many of my clients in good stead for several years now.  Even though Oracle 11g has been out on the market for a while now, I’m not seeing it widely adopted yet, which I find interesting.

I see three common factors feeding into that decision: First, satisfaction with 10g – 10g databases are chugging along just fine in most shops.  Second, risk aversion – why take the risk of upgrading to a newer version, especially if 10g is still running fine?  Third, cost – the economic and opportunity cost of upgrading might seem too high: why pay a consultant to do the upgrade or pull a staff member away from other productive work?  A less common reason I hear is that a software vendor has not yet certified their application with 11g.

But 10gR2 (Release 2) is about to enter the first phase of de-support, and 10gR1 is already well into the de-support process.  It’s time to start thinking about moving onto 11g.  It has some interesting new features, and running a currently supported version also will put you in good standing with Oracle Technical Support.  Plus, eventually, most software vendors will not support their product if it’s running on an out-of-date database version.

Start planning your upgrade soon – if we can help, feel free to contact us.