Research Reports

Research Brief: Oracle Database 26ai Delivers Fully Integrated AI

Steve McDowell November 5, 2025

Oracle released its Oracle Database 26ai at its recent AI World event in Las Vegas. The update makes the database an integrated platform that embeds artificial intelligence capabilities across data management, development, and analytics operations.

The platform integrates vector search capabilities with traditional database functions, supports agentic AI workflows through in-database tools and MCP servers, and extends analytics capabilities through Iceberg table format support. Oracle also bundles in advanced AI features, including AI Vector Search, at no additional cost.

Research Brief: Cisco Partner Summit Infrastructure Announcements

Steve McDowell November 4, 2025

At its 2025 Partner Summit in San Diego this week, Cisco announced three interconnected infrastructure initiatives to address the operational, connectivity, and edge-computing requirements of AI workloads.

The announcements span network management simplification through AgenticOps workflows, GPU-as-a-Service connectivity via SD-WAN integration with Megaport AI Exchange, and a new converged edge computing platform called Unified Edge.

Research Report: Beyond Legacy Virtualization: Wind River’s Modern Alternative for Enterprise Infrastructure

Steve McDowell October 31, 2025

Wind River Cloud Platform emerges as a compelling enterprise-grade alternative that addresses both immediate VMware challenges and long-term infrastructure modernization needs. Built on proven open-source technologies including StarlingX, Kubernetes, and OpenStack, the platform delivers unified management of both virtual machines and containers under a single, highly automated infrastructure solution.

Research Report: Addressing Enterprise AI Data Challenges At Scale with the Dell AI Data Platform

Steve McDowell October 31, 2025

This Research Report looks at how the Dell AI Data Platform addresses the challenges of AI-at-Scale with a purpose-built, modular approach that integrates file, block, and object storage into a unified system optimized for AI. Key components include data engines that enable aggregation, in-place querying, and searching across both structured and unstructured data sets, as well as storage engines that provide the necessary performance, scale, and security across on-premises, edge, and cloud environments.

Research Brief: Oracle Autonomous AI Lakehouse

Steve McDowell October 29, 2025

Oracle recently announced its Oracle Autonomous AI at its Oracle AI World event in Las Vegas. The new offering combines Oracle’s Autonomous AI Database platform with native Apache Iceberg support. The offering addresses persistent enterprise challenges around data lock-in and platform interoperability by providing standardized access to data across multiple clouds and catalogs.

Research Brief: Oracle Globally Distributed Exadata Database on Exascale Infrastructure

Steve McDowell August 7, 2025

Oracle announced the general availability of its Globally Distributed Exadata Database on Exascale Infrastructure, a managed cloud service that combines distributed database capabilities with serverless computing architecture. The platform automatically distributes and synchronizes data across multiple Oracle Cloud Infrastructure (OCI) regions, maintaining full SQL compatibility and support for Oracle Database features.