Oracle has postponed the end of support date for its popular 19c database as users await news of a mainstream on-prem version of its latest database, 23ai.
In a communication released last month, Oracle said it would be pushing back the support cutoff for 19c to December 31, 2029, for Premier Support and December 31, 2032, with Extended Support.
Aside from 23ai, 19c is the most recent “Long Term Release.” 21c is an “Innovation Release,” which are not supported as long and are not eligible for Extended Support. As of 2022, Oracle offered Premier Support until April 2024 and Extended Support until April 2027 for 19c. In 2023, Oracle waived Extended Support fees for 19c until April 30, 2026.
Oracle did not explain why it is offering five more years of Premier Support for 19c.
Big Red ditched the “c” lineage in May last year when it launched 23ai, which introduced new features, including a native VECTOR datatype and “optimized” vector similarity search indexing.
At the time, Oracle made no commitment to an on-prem version of the database, other than the relatively niche Oracle Exadata and Oracle Database Appliance (ODA) hardware. Still, some commentators were optimistic that a mainstream on-prem version of the latest database would arrive soon.
Nine months later, it has yet to emerge. The most recent missive says that – other than the cloud, Exadata, and ODA – there is no on-prem planned. It only states that Supercluster, Linux x86-64, Linux on Arm, Oracle Solaris SPARC (64-bit), Oracle Solaris x86-64 (64-bit), Microsoft Windows x64 (64-bit), HP-UX Itanium, and IBM Power and System Z are TBA.
Oracle was given the opportunity to comment.
Speaking to The Register, Martin Biggs, vice president and general manager of third-party support specialist Spinnaker, said:
“With 23ai going on-prem, nobody really knows why the release dates are still to be announced, but they have dramatically extended 19c support, which means it is supported right through to 2032. In fact, they are only saying they’re going to support 23ai until 2031 at the moment. They will do longer, but it raises all sorts of questions, and it means 19c becomes probably the longest-ever strategic platform.”
Biggs said Oracle customers pay perpetual license and support fees on the understanding they get upgrades included during the period they cover. “When new versions come out, you get it ‘for free’ although obviously, you have to pay to upgrade and so on.”
Oracle increased its support fees by 8 percent in 2022. At the moment, there is “no clear view of any new version coming out” at least in terms of on-prem 23ai outside of Exadata and ODA.
Oracle database remains top in the DB-Engines ranking system, which relies on a combination of metrics including mentions on websites, Google search trends, appearance in online technical discussions, job ads, professional profiles, and social media feeds. The Stack Overflow Developer Survey, which largely reflects developer choices when building new applications, ranks Oracle as the ninth most popular database choice, well behind the leader, PostgreSQL. ®
