For years, the tech behemoth Oracle stood in the shadows of cloud giants like Amazon and Microsoft. But now, with their second-gen Oracle Cloud Infrastructure (OCI), Oracle is rewriting the cloud playbook. Oracle is far more than just the database company as most people would have memories of.

Mahesh Thiagarajan, Executive Vice President of OCI, whose strategies are turning skeptics into believers.

"Cloud security is not a solo act" asserted Thiagarajan.

Since joining Oracle in 2016 from Microsoft Azure, Thiagarajan has had a front-row seat to OCI’s evolution. Against the odds, Oracle, once the cloud industry’s underdog, has managed to sidestep the pitfalls that the earlier adopters ran into.

"It's a shared responsibility, a partnership between the customer and the cloud provider." Expressed Thiagarajan.

But when developers, racing against deadlines, fumble in configuring the cloud, it can become chaotic.

This strategy has empowered Oracle to invest heavily, giving them a leg up in performance with the intent to drive to the top of the cloud players.

The growing shift from questions about cloud value to demanding data sovereignty and control, especially among government users. Oracle’s play ensures every bit of data complies with privacy laws. But Oracle’s plan is to not rest on its laurels – despite being a late comer to the game.

Thiagarajan shared his view on the what’s on the horizon which customers can expect a surge in decentralised, edge-based installations and bespoke offerings like government-specific clouds and EU sovereign clouds.

"Every decision is a dance between data and intuition" Added Thiagarajan.

Oracle’s strategy is to pivot based on customer feedback. OCI is listening, learning, and flexibly responding to customer needs, aiming for a 360-degree cloud capability availability through the ‘Everything everywhere’ initiative.

Collaborations with Microsoft and Google to embed Oracle databases in their clouds signify a new paradigm of multi-cloud synergies. In addition, AI infrastructure, in partnership with NVIDIA, underpinning integration of generative AI across Oracle’s portfolio.

"Customer needs first – always" Thiagarajan emphasised.

OCI’s approach to high-performance storage for AI workloads is setting new industry benchmarks, furthering their pole position in the cloud race.

Thiagarajan proclaims that Oracle Cloud isn’t just a player but a powerhouse rewriting the rules of the cloud game. OCI is not only catching up but could potentially outpace the early birds.