Oracle builds cloud ambitions with 2,000 hires

Oracle has continued its drive towards the cloud by announcing it will hire an additional 2,000 employees in its cloud infrastructure business unit.

‘Big Red’ certainly had a delayed entry into the cloud fracas, though it is attempting to play catch-up. This is another example of the firm throwing cash at the situation after missing the opportunity to generate organically.

“Cloud is still in its early days with less than 20 percent penetration today, and enterprises are just beginning to use cloud for mission-critical workloads,” said Don Johnson, EVP of the cloud infrastructure business.

“Our aggressive hiring and growth plans are mapped to meet the needs of our customers, providing them reliability, high performance, and robust security as they continue to move to the cloud.”

The new positions will be in software development, cloud operations and business operations, though we suspect it might have to sign some significant cheques. Competent and promising employees in the cloud segment do not come cheap, especially when you are trying to lure said individuals away from the attractive offers from the likes of Google, Amazon and Facebook.

Aside from assisting infrastructure customers, Oracle has said the new employees will assist in new product rollouts, as well as expanding the geographical footprint of the cloud business. The company currently operates 16 cloud regions, though there are plans to add an additional 20 by the end of 2020. This will bring it more in-line, though still behind, the major players in the segment.

After declaring the cloud was nothing but a passing fad, Oracle is attempting to play catch-up. The aggressive pursuit of profits will be very expensive, but it has little choice in the matter.