After working closely with its customers over the past several months, Oracle chose to update its pricing policies to help customers take advantage of the recent advancements in multicore processor chips from leading vendors such as AMD, IBM, Intel and Sun Microsystems. While Oracle will continue to recognize each core as a separate processor, the processor definition has been amended as it relates to counting multicore chips to determine the total number of processor licenses required. Now, the required processor licensing is dependent upon the specific multicore chip on which the Oracle software is deployed.

*Oracle Processor Licensing: UltraSparc T1--Processor Factor--0.25
*Oracle Processor Licensing: AMD/Intel--Processor Factor--0.50
*Oracle Processor Licensing: All other Multicore Servers--Processor Factor--0.75
*Oracle Processor Licensing: Single Core Servers--Processor Factor--1.00

For example, if an AMD, IBM, Intel or Sun UltraSparc T1 multicore server was installed and/or running Oracle software on 8 cores, the licenses would be calculated in the following manner:

* IBM multicore server - Requires 6 processor licenses (8 multiplied by a factor of .75 equals 6)
* Intel or AMD server - Requires 4 processor licenses (8 multiplied by a factor of .50 equals 4)
* Sun UltraSparc T1 server - Requires 2 processor licenses (8 multiplied by a factor of .25 equals 2)

"As technology evolves, we have adapted our licensing models to accommodate those changes. In the same way that the shift from mainframes to client/server and client/server to multitiered architectures required new licensing metrics, advancements in multicore chip technology represents the same," said Jacqueline Woods, vice president, Global Pricing and Licensing Strategy, Oracle. "These new pricing policies will enable our customers to leverage the advancements in multicore chip technology and derive even more value from their Oracle technology software."

Licensing by processor is one of only several choices Oracle provides its customers. Other options include licensing per user and per employee. Oracle also offers the option of licensing its software on a term or perpetual basis (1-year, 2-year, 3-year, 4-year and 5-year).

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