As Oracle enters a new fiscal year, I want to take a moment and reflect on my time at Oracle thus far. The technology industry is currently at an inflection point trying to figure out where growth will come from. When you look at Oracle’s portfolio of products, it's a complete stack from applications to disc, offering differentiation in the marketplace.

I was initially drawn to Oracle’s leadership, strategy, and world-class technology. Since joining the Oracle team in October 2013, I’ve had the privilege of traveling around the globe visiting our partners and customers, and wanted to share several common themes that came up during these meetings.

• Cloud: Many partners are trying to figure out how to build a business around the cloud. Oracle partners can currently resell or refer our cloud services. We saw over 300 percent growth from cloud resale last quarter.

• Engineered Systems: Hardware and software integrated together to simplify IT allows our joint customers to focus on the innovation they need to compete in a complex marketplace. We're seeing great success in a several areas, with more partners saying, “Let’s start with Oracle on Oracle.”

• The Internet of Things: This is the next big opportunity for device manufacturers and ISV‘s to capture market share in what is projected to be a mulit-trillion-dollar opportunity, according to Gartner. 
  

• Competition: We've got a tremendous middleware platform and a tremendous database install base. We’re not just a database company; we are a complete provider.

So looking ahead, what are my priorities for fiscal 2015? Oracle PartnerNetwork has some very exciting plans on the horizon. There’s a lot more leadership and announcements to unfold, especially at this year’s Global Partner Kickoff taking place on June 25 + 26 depending on your region and time zone. I along with several other Oracle executives will be shedding light on Oracle’s strategy for the upcoming year, the latest opportunities within the OPN Specialized Program and sales strategies that will help you to continue to grow and profit with Oracle. Stay tuned for registration information next week.

We also have Oracle OpenWorld and JavaOne to look forward to. These conferences are taking place in San Francisco from September 28 – October 2. We’ll have a variety of partner-specific activities for you at OPN Central @ OpenWorld including the OPN keynote, the famed AfterDark networking reception, access to the OPN Lounge and more.

In the meantime, I hope that everyone has a great end to fiscal 2014.

Best regards,

Rich Geraffo
Senior Vice President, Worldwide Alliances and Channels