Oracle Labs Running A Virtual Database Without An Operating System

When Oracle bought BEA in April 2008 it inherited a R&D project designed to run BEA’s WebLogic middleware on a virtual machine without an operating system.

The work has received a boost inside the database giant.

The company is now looking at running an Oracle database directly on a virtual machine without an operating system.

CEO Larry Ellison did not offer additional detail of the work on a Tuesday evening fourth-quarter conference call. But he said the effort is alive and well.

“We are looking at that,” he said.

The implications are clear. If a database server no longer needs to include an operating system, suppliers of Linux and Windows could suffer.

And Oracle’s push to supply a complete stack of software from virtual machine on up could be easier (even if a stripped down OS is included).