Oracle and Microsoft Expected To Announce Cloud Service Partnership On Monday

Two of the world's largest enterprise companies may be about to shake hands in a deal that'll have massive implications across the entire cloud (er, industry). A new report suggests that Microsoft and Oracle are ready to "link their fortunes in the cloud," announcing at its upcoming BUILD conference a new partnership with Oracle. BUILD is expected to be the launching pad for Windows 8.1, but that's mostly on the consumer front. On the enterprise front, Oracle is expected to announce a cooperation with Microsoft whereby Microsoft's software ties in tightly with Oracle's powerful enterprise hardware.


It's a strange collaboration, for sure. A few years ago, these two were seen as rivals. But given that Microsoft has been oddly late to the cloud, linking up with another giant might be necessary to stay on top of things. The advent of the Internet, coupled with rapidly changing expectations in the market place, has left Microsoft grasping for straws in some areas (see also: Windows Phone and the overall mobile market share battle).

We'll have to wait until next week to see how exactly the two plan to play together, but one thing's for sure: if this goes down, it's certainly a sign of the times.