Oracle will plug into grid computing with the next release of its database software in September. The firm last week disclosed that the product will be called 10G Database, with the suffix hinting at the importance of support for the grid model, where idle network resources are allocated on demand.

Although grid systems have been hyped, complexity and security have stifled uptake.

Oracle will detail 10G Database at OracleWorld San Francisco, beginning on 7 September, when chief executive Larry Ellison will also unveil 10G Application Server.

Although rival IBM is more closely associated with grids and last week released a new version of its WebSphere software with grid support, Oracle wants to change matters. Grids will be the subject of four OracleWorld keynote speeches. Other enhancements to the 10G database include XML, web services, clustering and administration.

Oracle UK User Group chairman Ronan Miles said the grid opportunity is enormous. "I think grid computing will do for the computer what disk farms have done for disks," he said. "Once, we were in awe of one disk and now it's a resource in a Raid array. Grid can take processing and memory down the same road. You (will) have a computing surface you just use."

The 10G release may also calm fears that Oracle is focusing on its enterprise applications business to the detriment of database research and development.

"There has been concern about the degree of investment Oracle has put into applications," Miles said. "With 10G, it is indicating its commitment to database technology. If the next product had been 10i, it would have sounded like it couldn't think of anything other than bigger, faster, better. Whether (the technology) really works or not doesn't matter because it will do by 11G."

However, some critics doubt the short-term benefits of the latest technologies.

"Oracle is ... on the XML/web services bandwagon, and looks like it's going to jump on the grid bandwagon," read a UK database administrator's discussion board post. "(But) how many apps out there will store objects rather than relational data?"

Oracle's news comes as Microsoft releases the first beta of its next SQL Server database. By August, the software, codenamed Yukon, will reach 2,000 testers. Microsoft is focusing on availability with fault-tolerance and disaster-recovery capabilities.

IBM plans to add more automation to DB2, including scripts that make setup easier, said Angus Falconer, DB2 European marketing manager. IBM also plans to build in more DB2 support for Xperanto, IBM's XML-based data integration software.