Oracle Database@Azure expands global reach, drives AI adoption

Organisations around the world are increasing their adoption of Oracle Database@Azure in efforts to accelerate migrations to the cloud and deploy new artificial intelligence capabilities.

Activision Blizzard is among the companies leveraging Oracle Database@Azure as part of its cloud transformation strategy. The service allows customers to access Oracle database features natively within the Microsoft Azure cloud, aiming to streamline data integration and drive advanced analytics using AI.

Global reach expands

Oracle Database@Azure is now available in 28 Microsoft Azure regions globally.

These regions include major areas such as Australia East, Brazil South, Canada Central, Central US, East US, France Central, Germany North, Japan East, North Europe, South Central US, Spain Central, Sweden Central, Switzerland North, UAE Central, UK South, and West US, among others.

The service is expected to launch in five more regions over the next year, including Brazil Southeast, France South, North Central US, South India, and West Europe.

Karan Batta, Senior Vice President of Oracle Cloud Infrastructure, highlighted the growing demand for the service.

"We're seeing rapid adoption of Oracle Database@Azure as global organizations accelerate cloud migrations to leverage new AI capabilities," said Karan Batta. "With AI embedded directly into the database layer at no additional cost, customers can analyze data where it resides-removing latency, avoiding expensive data movement, and enabling faster, more advanced insights. To meet this demand, we continue to expand Oracle Database@Azure with new regions and database services, while our new partner program gives customers even more choice to work with trusted partners on their multicloud and IT modernization initiatives."

Adoption by Activision Blizzard

Mahesh Tyagi, Vice President, Finance Engineering at Activision Blizzard, elaborated on the practical benefits that Oracle Database@Azure delivers for their organisation.

"Oracle Database@Azure delivers the high performance of Oracle Exadata natively within Azure, empowering us to move our Oracle workloads to the cloud without compromise. We gained native, real-time access to our Oracle data from Azure and seamless integration with both Oracle and non-Oracle data sources. Paired now with Microsoft Fabric, Power BI, and Copilot Studio, our team will be able to accelerate insight delivery to business stakeholders and build agentic workflows faster. It's a practical path to iterate on new features while keeping governance and security at the forefront."

Integration with Microsoft AI

Oracle Database@Azure is designed to integrate with various components of Microsoft's data and AI suite. Brett Tanzer, Vice President, Azure Product Management at Microsoft, commented on the collaborative aspects of the partnership.

"In today's AI-first era, Microsoft is trusted by organizations of all sizes looking to harness the power of their data with secure, intelligent, enterprise-grade cloud solutions. Great AI innovation is built on the core data in customers' mission-critical line-of-business applications and databases. With Oracle Database@Azure, customers can bring their Oracle data to Azure, where they can tap into Microsoft's comprehensive data and AI portfolio, including Microsoft Fabric, Copilot, and Azure AI Foundry - with enterprise-grade security, performance, and reliability. Together with Oracle, we're enabling customers to analyze data where it resides, unlock new AI-driven insights, and confidently modernize their IT with the support of trusted partners."

New database features

Several new database services are now generally available for customers using Oracle Database@Azure.

The Oracle Base Database Service provides automated lifecycle management, low-code environment options with Oracle APEX, and independently scalable compute and storage with pay-as-you-go pricing.

The Oracle Autonomous AI Lakehouse is also now available, combining open-source Apache Iceberg data tables with Oracle AI Database 26ai, Oracle Exadata, and Oracle Autonomous AI Database. The integration with Microsoft Fabric and Power BI enables Azure users to apply artificial intelligence models directly to their data across platforms without moving it, supporting broader analytics capabilities and secure usage.

OCI GoldenGate has also reached general availability, offering organisations a way to move and synchronise their data across systems in near real-time. This aims to facilitate faster operational decisions and reduce the risk of outages or data loss during migration and modernisation projects.

Partner programme for cloud services

To support organisations adopting multicloud strategies, Oracle has introduced a new partner programme for Oracle Database@Azure.

Microsoft and Oracle partners can now resell Oracle Database@Azure through the Microsoft Marketplace, integrate the platform into new solutions, and support IT transformation for their customers.

Andy Tay, Global Lead, Accenture Cloud First, described the benefits for customers:

"As strategic partners for both Oracle and Microsoft, leading some of their largest client transformations, this partner-first approach will further enhance how we support the cloud migration and multicloud and AI needs of our clients. By combining the performance and reliability of Oracle AI Database with Microsoft Azure's rich set of application development and AI services, Oracle Database@Azure will help our clients accelerate modernization, unlock new insights, and drive greater business value."

Dinesh Rao, Executive Vice President & Chief Delivery Officer at Infosys, also expressed support for the new programme.

"To drive true innovation, enterprises must go beyond cloud migration and build a strategic foundation."

"As part of the new Oracle Database@Azure partner program, Infosys will combine its deep expertise in cloud and AI with the embedded AI vector capabilities of Oracle AI Database and Microsoft Azure's AI services. This empowers clients to accelerate their AI innovation and confidently embrace a multicloud future."