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Colleges and Universities Reduce Server Footprint, Improve System Performance and Simplify IT Maintenance with Oracle Exadata Database Machine

University of Arkansas, Northern Illinois University and Brigham Young University Improve Registration and Student System Availability and Reliability with Oracle Exadata Database Machine

EDUCAUSE, Anaheim, Calif. – October 17, 2013

News Facts
• Colleges and universities nationwide are driving consolidation, reducing operating expenses, and improving application performance to support peak registration periods and other critical processes through the adoption of Oracle Exadata Database Machine, a key component of Oracle Engineered Systems.
• Engineered to deliver extreme performance and the most available platform for running the Oracle Database, Oracle Exadata combines massive memory and low-cost disks to deliver petabyte scalability at a lower cost.

University of Arkansas
• The University of Arkansas, which is among the top two percent of research colleges and universities nationwide(1), implemented Oracle Exadata Database Machine to help improve performance of key Oracle software – including PeopleSoft Campus Solutions, Oracle WebCenter Content and locally-developed Java applications – as well as third party systems – during peak registration times.
• The university installed two Oracle Exadata Database Machines, retiring its existing aging storage system after the migration – consolidating the university’s server footprint and reducing maintenance costs.
• With Oracle Exadata, the University of Arkansas expects to spend less time troubleshooting hardware problems, updating firmware and patching systems.
• The University of Arkansas has already experienced significant performance improvements, especially during the Fall 2013 registration period when the university reached record setting enrollment with 25,365 students – positioning the University of Arkansas as the 13th fasting growing public research university in the country. (2)

Northern Illinois University
• Northern Illinois University (NIU), with more than 22,000 undergraduate and graduate students and four regional campuses, implemented Oracle Exadata to replace its aging infrastructure and help reduce IT maintenance costs.
• NIU’s implementation of two Oracle Exadata Database Machines reduced maintenance requirements by integrating disparate hardware across development, quality assurance and production environments into one consolidated platform running the university’s PeopleSoft applications for its student system, financials, and human resources management. The new system also boosted performance and reliability by cutting batch processing run times significantly.
• NIU also reduced costs and saved time during the implementation process as the engineered systems came ready out of the box, with Oracle Real Application Clusters already configured. In addition, Oracle Exadata laid the foundation for the university’s disaster recovery solution across two data centers – helping to ensure continuous availability of its key systems.

Brigham Young University
• Brigham Young University (BYU), located in Provo, Utah, with a student body population of more than 30,000 and nearly 4,000 employees, recently implemented Oracle Exadata Database Machine to help improve critical campus system performance while optimizing its existing investment in Oracle’s PeopleSoft Campus Solutions, PeopleSoft Financial Management, and PeopleSoft Human Capital Management.
• With Oracle Exadata, the university has consolidated 50 database servers and associated storage systems, with the intent to allow BYU to improve registration system reliability during peak periods at the beginning of each semester.

Supporting Quotes
• “We are extremely pleased with the noticeable performance improvements since migrating to Oracle Exadata Database Machine,” said Walter Green, open systems and mainframe manager, University of Arkansas. “Our system ran smoothly for our users, ranging from end-users to upper administration, during peak registration days. Oracle Exadata’s reliability and scalability enabled the university to support an all-time high enrollment record that we did not expect to reach until 2021.”
• “Oracle Exadata Database Machine significantly improved our administrative system availability and reliability, and helped the university to significantly accelerate batch run times,” said Steven Pace, associate director, Division of Finance and Facilities, Northern Illinois University. “Our students and staff now have access to critical campus systems without the interruption of downtime or system backups.”
• “We are pleased to see the vast improvements stemming from Oracle Exadata Database Machine as the foundation for numerous universities’ systems. Oracle Exadata helps institutions to reduce IT costs through consolidation and store up to ten times more data, enabling them to simplify technology management while helping to improve system performance for students, faculty and staff,” said Cole Clark, global vice president of education and research, Oracle.

Supporting Resources
• Oracle in Higher Education
• Oracle Exadata Database Machine
• Oracle Engineered Systems
• Oracle Higher Education on Twitter
• Oracle Higher Education on Facebook
• Oracle Higher Education on Diigo

About Oracle
Oracle engineers hardware and software to work together in the cloud and in your data center. For more information about Oracle (NYSE:ORCL), visit www.oracle.com.

Trademarks
Oracle and Java are registered trademarks of Oracle and/or its affiliates. Other names may be trademarks of their respective owners.

Footnotes
(1) “The University of Arkansas Elevated to Highest Carnegie Classification Among U.S. Universities and Colleges”, February 22, 2011.
(2) The Chronicle of Higher Education, August 29, 2013.

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Contacts:
Karen Hartquist Janice Clayton
Oracle O’Keeffe & Company
+1. 650.506.3552 +1.443-759-8151
karen.hartquist@oracle.com jclayton@okco.com