The Exa* pitch complicates that, though. I've dealt with Oracle DBAs who were rabid to get their hands on Exa* units so they could "get rid of the sysadmins."

The Exa* pitch complicates that, though. I've dealt with Oracle DBAs who were rabid to get their hands on Exa* units so they could "get rid of the sysadmins." They cooled their jets when they heard a big part of the Exa* pitch is reducing reliance on DBAs, as well. Oracle's in an awkward place. They want to get to the new world of cloud and appliance without burning down the old world, while preserving their profitability, and that's quite hard.