Oracle's Raw Iron limps in

Oracle will finally ship the code for its long-awaited Raw Iron server appliance to server suppliers this month, but industry watchers warn it may be too late for the product to become mainstream.

The Raw Iron server is an Oracle database on a stripped down Unix operating system kernel. The brainchild of Oracle chief executive Larry Ellison is aimed at defeating Microsoft's pre-dominance in the operating systems marketplace. The device is supposed to lower costs by simplifying administration.

Oracle UK's head of server marketing, Tim Payne, said this week that the company will make the code for Raw Iron available to hardware manufacturers this month.

Ellison announced the product at the Comdex trade show in November 1998, promising that systems would ship by March 1999. But nearly a year later, Raw Iron has still not appeared.

Trevor Eddols, analyst at researcher Xephon, believes the delays will consign it to a niche role. "Mid-sized companies are so used to putting databases on NT that they won't change. If Raw Iron was delivered on time, the hype could have carried it forward in the marketplace."

Banks and building societies will, however, still want the software to use in branch offices, Eddols added. Dell Computer said it will ship a server, with Raw Iron pre-loaded, by the beginning of May. Siemens Fujitsu is promising to have it available in early April. Other hardware partners Compaq and Hewlett Packard can't yet give dates of when they will begin shipping products.

At least one user is happy with the product. "We still believe in the appliance," said Simon Harrison, technical manager for Raw Iron beta customer Eurostar. "We have higher performance for fewer pounds," he said, but would not give a figure.

Last year, Eurostar estimated that Raw Iron could cut installation costs by up to 30 per cent by allowing remote installation.