Oracle has announced an extension of support for its Oracle Database 19c, with Premier Support now lasting until December 31, 2029, and Extended Support stretching to December 31, 2032. This move comes as a relief to on-premises customers, who were previously facing a support end date of 2024-2027. However, the company remains tight-lipped about the availability of an on-premises edition of Oracle Database 23ai, fueling speculation about its cloud strategy.

The extended support period for Oracle Database 19c is significant, as it provides customers with a longer timeline to plan and execute their database upgrades. This move is reminiscent of SAP's decision to grant reprieves to its on-premises S/4HANA customers. However, there are some caveats to Oracle's extended support, including the exclusion of support for certain features such as BSAFE crypto libraries, Java, and Transport Layer Security (TLS) during the period from May 1, 2027, through December 31, 2032.

Oracle Database 19c and 23ai are currently the company's two long-term releases. While Oracle Database 23ai is available in Oracle Cloud Infrastructure (OCI), Oracle Exadata, and Oracle Database Appliance, there is still no on-premises version available. Oracle has stated that upgrading to 19c is the recommended path for product longevity and patching, with the next Long Term release being 23ai. However, analysts believe that Oracle is likely trying to nudge customers towards the cloud by holding back on an on-premises version of Oracle Database 23ai.

"One could argue from a commercial and a technology perspective as to why 23ai has not been released to on-premises environments currently," said Scott Bickley, advisory fellow at Info-Tech Research Group. "It could be that Oracle wants to continue testing 23ai's performance across an array of typical server configurations found on premises to ensure performance parity with 23ai's capabilities on OCI and Exadata. Alternatively, Oracle could be seeking to emphasize its cloud offerings and keep the most cutting-edge functionality tied to cloud migrations. I view the latter as the more probable reason, but this is speculation as Oracle has not formally responded to this question."

Bickley pointed out that this aligns with the trend of Oracle competitors, specifically SAP, which is no longer innovating on its on-premises S/4HANA product and database, instead concentrating on their cloud efforts. Matt Kimball, vice president and principal analyst, data center compute and storage, Moor Insights & Strategy, agreed, stating that Oracle's decision is a "gentle nudge" to get organizations to move their Oracle environments to the cloud.

Bickley added that most organizations running Oracle DB loads require enterprise-grade performance, latency, and advanced features and functionality, making it a significant undertaking to upgrade to 23ai. "A jump from 19c to 23ai is a significant gap that many legacy on-premises organizations may not yet have a risk appetite or budget to embark upon imminently," he said. Furthermore, the new AI capabilities in 23ai have not yet demonstrated a positive return on investment (ROI), which may be another reason why Oracle is employing a push/pull approach to encourage cloud adoption.

Kimball agreed, stating that he would not be surprised if Oracle did not release 23ai as a traditional on-premises offering. "I don't believe 19c is a way to extend existing on-premises environments until 23ai is ready. Rather, it's an acknowledgment that this very popular distribution still has a large customer footprint and requires care and feeding, specifically, among very large customers who have no plans of migrating — regardless of the lack of AI features."

In conclusion, Oracle's extended support for Database 19c provides a welcome respite for on-premises customers, but the lack of an on-premises edition of Oracle Database 23ai raises questions about the company's cloud strategy. As the industry continues to shift towards cloud adoption, it remains to be seen how Oracle will balance its on-premises offerings with its cloud ambitions.