Oracle recently announced that diverse industries such as manufacturing, retail, financial services, utilities, telecommunications, healthcare and government are taking advantage of Oracle’s grid computing architecture for their operations. The company press release claimed that during the fiscal year 2007 more than 70 customers in India have selected Oracle Real Application Clusters for its robust operation support.

Gujarat Electricity Board, Tube Investments of India Limited, Saraswat Bank, National Stock Exchange, NDTV, Indian Railway Catering & Tourism Corporation, Track Four Infotech Ltd, General Insurance Company, Syndicate Bank, Ashok Leyland, Maruti Udyog Ltd, AP Commercial Tax Office, e-Seva Gateway, Municipal Corporation of Hyderabad, among others have chosen Oracle grid computing to run their mission critical applications.

Oracle Real Application Clusters supports the deployment of a single database across a cluster of servers which provides fault tolerance, performance and scalability without much application changes. Oracle enables enterprises to leverage grid computing through a consolidated infrastructure that can virtualise computing resources, improve reliability of applications and provision resources dynamically at the lowest possible cost.

"Grid computing, with Oracle Database and Oracle Real Application Clusters, has helped streamline and improve efficiencies of the bank's operations," said C M Raman, general manager of Information Technology, Syndicate Bank. "Now, our managers are able to access reports daily, thus expediting the decision-making process. This has enhanced the responsiveness and efficiency across the business. The grid architecture has optimised maximum data availability at reduced costs," Raman adds.

SPS Grover, vice president, Technology Business Unit, Oracle India mentioned, "Organisations from sectors like telecom, financial services, travel, construction, media and utilities are convinced of the benefits of grid computing because it allows for superior scalability and fast ROI."

Oracle Real Application Clusters supports all applications whether packaged or custom-built, across a cluster of low-cost, industry standard servers, enabling high availability and seamless scalability and runs on Linux, UNIX and Windows platforms.