Oracle On Demand
Oracle On Demand is a complete software management service that lets Oracle experts manage your Oracle software. Oracle maintains your software and handles system availability, security, scalability, and performance. A cost-effective way to manage your technology over the long term, Oracle On Demand provides faster service and proactive problem resolution, while keeping you up-to-date on the latest product releases.
Senior Principal System Administrator
Location: Austin, Texas
Product: Oracle On Demand
Q: Why do you feel you were nominated for the Oracle Innovation Showcase?
A: I worked with Oracle Senior Principal Database Administrator Srinivasa Reddy Mallidi on the SMART tool for Oracle On Demand—originally called the Single and Multi-Tier Auto Refresh Tool for Instances. It's an end-to-end On Demand refresh tool that integrates all our daily refresh efforts into a single solution in a very transparent way. It automatically performs any kind of refresh flavor, such as single-tier, multi-middle-tier, Oracle Real Application Clusters [Oracle RAC], non-RAC, and DMZ. Previously, refreshes were handled manually and painstakingly. Now, DBAs can use this tool to make system administrator tasks transparent, and system administrators can use this tool to make DBA tasks transparent, and save a lot of time by eliminating ticket-passing.
Q: What makes your Oracle On Demand refresh automation tool innovative?
A: If you boil it down to the essentials, it takes away the complexity of certain tasks. For example, the error reporting and error handling is done in such a way that it doesn't just give you an error code; it tells you more or less what has happened and how to go about fixing it. We did cross-platform integration of concepts that were previously thought to be tough to handle. We constructed really well-working composite components using basic, everyday tools.
Q: What's the most innovative product you've worked on—and what made it so innovative?
A: When I joined Oracle in 2002, Databases were very innovative to me. One of the things I had to understand then was how to do the backups, which has changed quite a bit. I wrote a Web-based backup tool, using the knowledge I gained from training. The tool helped me a lot. It is still being used today.
Q: How does Oracle On Demand help customers be more innovative?
A: Oracle On Demand helps customers be more innovative because they can focus on their business. They don't have to worry about the daily monitoring and management chores; Oracle takes care of that. Their IT departments are freed up to spend more time on innovation and strategic projects that are going to directly impact their businesses.
Q: How do you define innovation?
A: I think it's a combination of a lot of things. Innovation requires a play-like attitude: when you discard all the conventions and think, "Why can't I do this?" innovation has already started. I think it's good to have a certain amount of laziness, because it makes you think, "How could I do this more easily?" Ultimately, innovation gets us to move forward. If there is no real pressure for progress, then innovation doesn't happen. You need an incentive.
Q: What technology are you excited about right now?
A: Alternative energy solutions, such as solar and wind farms. They've been around for quite a while, but we sorely need new sources of energy now.
Q: Who would you say is the most innovative person at Oracle?
A: The developers. Their work has a tremendous impact on our day-to-day lives. When you use an Oracle application, you notice the difference in its performance, speed, and ease of use.
Q: Who in world history do you think of as innovative?
A: Grace Hopper. She created the first high-level computer language compiler and influenced the development of COBOL. She felt that computer programs should be understandable by people and that the compiler should actually generate the underlying machine language for you. It was cutting edge at the time.
Q: What's the most innovative product—not Oracle's—that you know of?
A: I'm intrigued by semiconductors. They function in an almost ethereal way; you can't see them working. As they get smaller and smaller, the possible ways you could use semiconductors are mind-boggling.
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