Oracle scores big win with Fujitsu Japan for its Alloy partner cloud
But Big Red's $8 billion investment plan may not be all it seems
Oracle has had a big win in Japan that could turn into something enormous, and also revealed plans to score more success in the land of the rising sun.
The big win is a deal with Fujitsu Japan, which will use Oracle's Alloy packaged-cloud-for-partners product to deliver sovereign cloud services. Alloy is built on Oracle hardware and the database giant's cloud stack, and includes over 100 services offered on the Big Red cloud.
Oracle suggests Alloy as a fine way for service providers to create their own cloud services. The fact that they'll be compatible with Oracle's own cloud is a drawcard as it means hyperscale public resources are within reach for service providers and their customers alike.
Some orgs are of course nervous about using hyperscalers. Little things like the CLOUD Act – which gives the US government extrajudicial powers to peer into clouds run by American entities regardless of where their infrastructure is located – mean many prefer their numinous tech resources to be on firmer legal footing.
Fujitsu will therefore operate its Alloy rigs in Japan, in datacenters it owns, to offer a sovereign cloud experience.
The win has the potential to get even bigger, as the joint Fujitsu/Oracle announcement states: "Based on the knowledge accumulated through use cases in the Japanese market, Fujitsu will actively consider expanding Oracle Alloy to other markets."
Given Fujitsu's presence in over 35 countries, this deal could be the precursor to enormous expansion for Alloy.
News of the Fujitsu deal came a day after Oracle announced plans to spend $8 billion over ten years to meet demand for cloud and AI in Japan. The tech titan said the cash will see it "grow Oracle Cloud Infrastructure's footprint across Japan … to help customers and partners address the digital sovereignty requirements" and "increase local customer support of its public cloud regions in Tokyo and Osaka and its local operations teams for Oracle Alloy and OCI Dedicated Region."
That appears to have been a precursor to the Fujitsu Alloy announcement.
It does not, however, appear to be an enormous commitment beyond Oracle's already enormous rollout of cloud infrastructure around the world, which will see the database king create over 100 datacenters and spend between $7 billion and $7.5 billion on capex alone this financial year.
Spending $8 billion spread over a decade on everything cloudy in Japan – the world's fourth-largest economy – doesn't seem an awful lot when you consider that datacenter spending, and Oracle's roughly $6.7 billion annual revenue across the Asia-Pacific region. ®