Oracle CloudWorld’24 – Key Highlights and Takeaways that you don’t want to miss!

From jaw-dropping product announcements to game-changing insights, Oracle CloudWorld 2024 was nothing short of extraordinary! Whether you were on the ground soaking up the energy or catching the highlights remotely, we’ve got you covered. This year's event brought together the best and brightest in cloud, service offerings, applications, database, security and AI technology, sparking conversations that are sure to shape the future of IT. Here’s a quick breakdown of the moments around cybersecurity that had everyone talking!

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Executive announcements around Cybersecurity?

Larry Ellison (Chairman and CTO) kicked off by unveiling Oracle’s ambitious multi-cloud strategy. He announced that Oracle Database will now be available in AWS and Microsoft Azure data centers, allowing customers to run Oracle workloads across multiple cloud providers. This development is a key part of Oracle’s vision for a truly open, multi-cloud environment, where businesses can use Oracle’s database and cloud infrastructure seamlessly alongside other platforms. Ellison emphasized the importance of multi-cloud flexibility, stating that it allows companies to take advantage of the best services from different providers, without being locked into one vendor. He highlighted customers like HSBC, FedEx, and Uber who are already benefiting from this multi-cloud approach, using Oracle Cloud to run critical workloads while leveraging other cloud services for different needs. He also reiterated Oracle’s strong focus on AI-driven security, ensuring that businesses using multi-cloud environments have advanced protection from cyber threats in four primary tiers – Applications, Data, User Identity, and network, no matter which cloud provider they use.

Safra Catz (CEO) delivered an inspiring keynote, focusing on the accelerating adoption of AI and cloud technologies across industries. She highlighted how AI and machine learning are transforming how businesses operate, with Oracle Cloud Infrastructure (OCI) playing a crucial role in this evolution. She emphasized the need for companies to leverage AI for improved decision-making, enhanced customer experiences, and greater operational efficiency. She also discussed Oracle’s strategic investments in AI infrastructure, helping companies integrate AI capabilities into their systems without having to build them from scratch.? Safra Catz showcased key customer success stories, including AT&T, General Electric (GE), and the CIA, who are utilizing Oracle Cloud to automate operations, improve data insights, and drive digital transformation. She stressed that AI adoption is no longer optional, but necessary for businesses to remain competitive. Oracle’s role, she explained, is to make AI accessible, secure, and scalable for organizations of all sizes.

Oracle Identity and Access Management (Oracle IAM) Summit

For Identity and Access Management (IAM) customers and partners, the day kicked off early on September 9th with an exclusive, invite-only User Identity Summit. The event, which saw a packed room, brought together over 40 customers from various industries such as public sector, higher education, financial services, transportation, banking, and manufacturing. Top partners were also present, contributing to a collaborative and insightful agenda as shown below (Figure 1), focused on industry-specific challenges and solutions in IAM.?

• After check-in and a warm welcome, Eleanor Meritt, Oracle’s SVP of IAM, delivered key announcements. These included updates on the current customer portfolio, Oracle IAM 14c roadmap, new product and service launches including MFA Everywhere and how it helps meeting the ZTA related mandates (see Figure 3) deep integrations with OCI, Fusion Applications and Oracle Health, and a focus on innovation priorities for FY2025.

• The interactive customer and partner panel featured discussions on real-world implementation experiences. The panelists emphasized that the future of user identity management hinges on adopting innovative solutions. Three project implementations were briefed with our customers and partners.? They included:

1. Project implementation of MFA Everywhere was presented by our customer in higher education.

2. IAM modernization to migrate a leading healthcare customer and Oracle's internal projects, presented by Hank Zukerman from Oracle Global Customer Success team.

3. A leading partner shared insights on the limitations of non-Oracle IGA implementations in two projects and explained how Oracle Access Governance could overcome these challenges.

• A leading industry analyst, offered his analysis on the role of AI in the IAM space, providing valuable industry insights.
• Pavana Jain, VP of Strategy and Product Management, provided a comprehensive overview of Oracle Identity Fabric including new capabilities introduced recently and upcoming releases. ?Refer to Figure 4 and 5.

• ?Martin Sleeman joined her to give a sneak peek into the National ID and ZPR initiatives, which were later announced during Larry Ellison’s keynote. Edward Lu then demonstrated the simplicity of using Oracle Access Governance for rapid onboarding of employees and applications, along with device-level SSO and passwordless authentication methods enabled by Oracle Universal Authenticator.

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• The event concluded with a three-partner panel, moderated by Sandeep Banerjie, VP of Product Management, focusing on key learnings from customer projects and the partners' experiences working with Oracle as you can see in Figure 6.

OCW'24: Identity and Access Management Sessions

From September 10th to 12th, the breakout sessions were buzzing with energy as Oracle IAM team and industry experts gathered to share their insights. Over the course of three days, there were eight sessions—ranging from learning, panel discussions, birds of a feather group, and theater-style presentations—along with two hands-on lab sessions. Each session was packed with attendees, addressing key customer pain points, showcasing how Oracle is providing solutions, and sparking insightful discussions that left participants eager for more. A dedicated demo booth offered customers a deeper dive into Oracle Access Governance, OCI Security, and the Zero Trust Landing Zone. Figure 7 shows demo staff who engaged in conversations with deeply interested customers and partners.

Sessions

• Session 1:? Oracle IAM – Addressing today's and tomorrow’s security needs:? Focused on practical strategies to implement MFA Everywhere, Oracle Access Governance, and OCI IAM. Uber Technologies Inc, then showcased how they are adopting these technologies.?

• Session 2:? Reduce risk and save time with automated security and compliance reporting:? ?A deep dive and a demonstration into using Oracle Risk Management Cloud Service with Oracle Access Governance to address automated user provisioning, compliance certifications, and separation of duties (SoD) controls across applications.? PwC and TRPGlobal shared their implementation details of the solution at the oldest mutual insurer of automobiles in the United States and and the largest mobile network operator in Africa.
• Session 3: Safeguard sensitive healthcare data with Oracle Access Governance: ?A session dedicated to discussing privacy and compliance challenges in healthcare with a comprehensive solution for addressing identity and access management challenges—including managing audit privileges and securing and governing data—in hospitals and facilities using Oracle Health ?(aka Cerner) applications.
• Session 4:? Accelerate your IAM modernization to multi-cloud deployments:?

Led by Oracle, panelists including cyber risk and security professionals from the second-most- populous county in the US (Cook County), a world-class US public research university (University of Massachusetts), and a large US Federal health agency (managed by Deloitte) showcased how they are modernizing their IAM and strengthening their security posture for multi-cloud deployments.

• Session 5:? Access Governance – A key to ensuring the survival of our digital lives:? Through real-world case studies and demonstrations, IT professionals, cybersecurity experts, and business leaders from Uber Technologies, Arisant, and BristleCone, get to examine the challenges of—and gain insights about—enhancing access governance and securing digital assets against unauthorized use.

• Session 6:? Unlocking the power of Identity and Access Management:? This C level panelists led by Oracle, discussed benefits of streamlining your IAM capabilities for enhanced security and agility—driving business growth as well as how to elevate your organization’s IAM strategy and unlock its full potential.
• Session 7:? Success strategies for deploying Oracle IAM containers in multi-cloud Kubernetes:? Targeted for an IT professional, cloud architect, or DevOps security team member, the session focused on best practices while deploying Oracle Identity and Access Management (IAM) containers and micro services in Kubernetes clusters across multi-cloud environments.
• Session 8:? AI innovations in Oracle Identity and Access Management:? Insights and Use Cases:? This round table session focused on discussions and exploration of real-world use cases showcasing AI’s potential to revolutionize security and compliance strategies, streamline access controls, and enhance user authentication experiences.? Moderators of the four round tables included San Francisco County, Deloitte, Daon, and Oracle with global participants from across the industries.

Networking Opportunities

Attendees took full advantage of the networking opportunities, from casual meet-and-greet sessions to in-depth, one-on-one meetings with Oracle IAM executives. Video interviews were a hit, with participants eagerly sharing their insights and experiences. This year’s event focused on fostering meaningful connections, highlighted by the lively evening concert on September 11th. Fun activities like racing car simulators, robotics demos, the AI-powered "Winning Moment" photo booth, 3D-printed T-shirts, and pet centers drew crowds and served as icebreakers, sparking conversations that led to valuable business networking.

?Product Demonstrations

While each of the sessions also included demonstrations, in the demo grounds under OCI and Database section, OCI Security, Oracle Access Governance, and Zero Trust Landing Zone, wowed participants with live demos of their latest products and technologies. The Oracle Access Governance was a crowd favorite, demonstrating how who has access to what, automated orchestrations, and deep insights, can revolutionize application and identity onboarding/offboarding quickly to avoid insider threat related breaches.? Attendees were excited to test out the firsthand.

Announcement of 2025 Oracle CloudWorld Tours

Oracle Cloudworld goes from Las Vegas, USA to 21 cities worldwide.?

Final Thoughts from Oracle IAM team

This year’s Oracle CloudWorld, brought together a vibrant community of professionals, thought leaders, and innovators, fostering collaboration and sparking new ideas. Led by Larry Ellison, the importance of protecting your applications, data, users, and network was discussed in depth.? If you couldn’t attend, be sure to check out key note recordings available on demand now here - https://www.oracle.com/cloudworld/.

?We welcome you to be part of our customer advisory board and subscribe to once a quarter newsletter for latest and greatest.?

Resources:

https://www.oracle.com/financial-services/safra-catz-ai-cloud-adoption/

https://www.oracle.com/cloud/multicloud/larry-ellison-cloudworld-multicloud-strategy/

https://www.oracle.com/cloudworld-tour/

https://events.rf.oracle.com/widget/oracle/ocw24/1722549784848001VBxS

https://www.oracle.com/cloudworld/