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Amazon just obtained a new competitor for its Amazon Web Services cloud hosting and development platform. Oracle is going head-to-head with Amazon with a slew of more than 24 new additions to the Oracle Cloud Platform. Oracle's new integrated cloud services include infrastructure, platform and software delivered as a service. Specific cloud-based services include hosted Exadata-based production databases, archive storage, Big Data, enterprise mobility, and application integration. Oracle says it offers the same products, with 100% compatibility, in the cloud and on premises, which means that companies can move to and from the cloud without changing applications. Furthermore, workloads can be moved to the cloud instantly. "Oracle is growing really fast," said Larry Ellison, CTO of Oracle, in public remarks. "Oracle is the only company on the planet that can deliver a complete, integrated, standards-based suite of services at every layer of the cloud. Those technology advantages enable us to be much more cost-effective than our competitors. Our new Archive Storage service goes head-to-head with Amazon Glacier and it's one-tenth their price."

Mid-market retailers face a unique combination of pressures from today's highly connected consumers. These customers seek the personalized attention and service that smaller retailers are known for, but they have also come to expect the wide product selection and expanded range of delivery options offered by the country's largest retailers. The 98-store Gordmans department store chain, celebrating its 100th year in business, faces this paradox, along with the challenge of balancing its upcoming online offerings with the brick-and-mortar stores that are still central to the business. Richard Heyman, Senior Vice President and CIO for the retailer, spoke about keys to success at the Oracle Retail Midmarket Merchandising Customer Luncheon held in conjunction with the NRF 2015 BIG Show in New York City.

New services accelerate time to insight and enable customers to generate value.

"This helps Oracle serve large data-intensive markets better," says Richard Fichera, a technology analyst at Forrester Research Inc. "Xsigo brings a capability that Oracle lacks and that HP and IBM have," he says. "It brings value for Oracle in being able to offer a complete network infrastructure."

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You don't have to be a sailing enthusiast to become engrossed in the story of the 2013 America's Cup...