Oracle Launches Exalogic Cloud Software for Java Deployments

Oracle on Dec. 8 launched Exalogic Elastic Cloud X2-2, a new-generation Java application infrastructure for virtual machines.
The announcement was made at OracleOpenWorld Brazil in Sao Paulo.
The Elastic Cloud X2-2 is the cloud middleware expressly designed for Oracle’s SPARC Exalogic, which is the company’s new hardware platform for cloud systems. Its sister product, Exadata, is the SPARC database server. Oracle isn’t shy about claiming that they’re both the fastest in the world at what they do.
Elastic Cloud X2-2 on the Exalogic is powered by either x86 Wintel processors or Sun SPARC chips [which run Solaris OS], whichever the user prefers.
At OracleWorld in September 2010, Oracle CEO Larry Ellison and Chief Hardware Executive John Fowler showed the x86 Exalogic as a 30-server, 360-core system that companies can use to run their own private clouds in a single rack.
On Dec. 2 at a special launch event at the old Sun Microsystems campus in Santa Clara, Calif., they showed two 7-foot-high SPARC racks-one Exadata and one Exalogic-on stage.
Elastic Cloud X2-2 on the Exadata machine is a pretty powerful system. It combines 64-bit x86 processors, an InfiniBand-based I/O fabric and solid-state storage with the Oracle WebLogic Server, other enterprise Java Oracle middleware products and a choice of Oracle Solaris or Oracle Linux operating systems.
Oracle said that the Exalogic Elastic Cloud — Amazon calls its enterprise cloud service Elastic Cloud 2, so there could be some confusion about all this in the future — can support numerous [meaning up to thousands] of Java and non-Java applications with differing security, reliability and performance requirements.
Naturally, the system also is optimized for integration with Oracle Database 11g, Oracle Real Application Clusters and the Oracle Exadata Database Machine.