In today's special edition of Cloud Wars Live, Bob Evans talks with Kris Rice, Senior Vice President, Software Development, Oracle Database, about the rapid rise of AI, the strategic impact of the new MCP Server, Oracle’s unique approach to integrating LLMs with private data, and what to expect at this year’s CloudWorld. Rice shares how Oracle is meeting developers where they are, enabling seamless AI-powered interactions with enterprise data.

Inside Oracle’s MCP Strategy

The Big Themes:

• Oracle’s Strategic Integration of MCP: Oracle’s implementation of the Model Context Protocol (MCP) represents more than a technical upgrade. Rice explains that MCP, though technically simple, becomes powerful because of how it’s supported across AI agents, Copilots, cloud desktops, and IDEs. Oracle’s distinctive approach lies in integrating MCP directly into its existing developer environments rather than layering on new tools.
• Oracle Marries AI with Data Sovereignty: Oracle has the unique ability to merge large language models (LLMs) with enterprise-grade data privacy and sovereignty. While many companies hesitate to use public AI platforms for sensitive queries, Oracle’s approach — running LLMs on private GPUs in Oracle Cloud Infrastructure (OCI) — lets customers leverage cutting-edge AI while keeping data entirely within their own virtual cloud networks.
• Oracle CloudWorld 2025: Looking ahead to CloudWorld, Rice promises more than vision — he promises practical value. Attendees can expect hands-on labs, demos, and real-world use cases showing exactly how Oracle’s MCP server and GenAI services can be applied immediately. From natural language-driven infrastructure provisioning using Terraform MCP to business logic queries run autonomously by AI agents, the event will be centered on tangible outcomes, not speculative futures.

The Big Quote: “I saw the other day that the Google AI Studio supports MCP. So you could literally go to the Google AI studio, drop in your Oracle Database MCP support, and talk to your Oracle database that's on GCP, and never leave the boundaries of Google."

More from Kris Rice and Oracle:

Connect with Kris Rice on LinkedIn and learn more about Oracle and MCP

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In today’s Cloud Wars Minute, I discuss Satya Nadella’s bold Q4 claim that Microsoft is the #1 cloud provider, leaving rivals to fight for second place.

Highlights

00:12 — Microsoft laid out a very clear, unmistakable story in Q4 that it is the biggest and right now certainly the most powerful, most influential cloud provider. CEO Satya Nadella used the opportunity of these unprecedented financial results to spread the word that, “We’re number one, and all of the other hyperscalers — Google, Oracle, and AWS — can fight for the number two spot.”

01:06 — Q4 cloud revenue was up 27% to 46.7 billion. Full year cloud revenue was $168 billion, up 23%. One that really blows me away, its RPO for Q4 was $368 billion up 37%, so that is remaining performance,obligation, contracted business not yet recognized as revenue. Then for Azure, for the full year, $75 billion and a 39% growth rate in Q4. So pretty powerful stuff.

02:04 — Nadella said, "We're the leaders in breadth of AI products and AI infrastructure." He said, "In our overall tech stack, nobody can touch us, and that's how we're able to deliver at this scale." He said, "We have more data centers than anybody else does," cutting against some claims that have been made by Oracle and others. "We are outperforming everybody else."

03:16 — I thought it was interesting that, without identifying those specific companies, he referred to our competitors and that we're doing more than them. Now, I think this was a smart move by Nadella, right? Because we're not talking about some technical features — these are the technological foundations that business leaders will be betting the future of their companies on.

03:55 — So, the hyperscalers with the best overall capabilities are going to be the ones that those business leaders tend to go with. I think it's a smart move by Nadella here to say, in my view, here's where we stand. We're out ahead of the others on all this. Now, I'm sure Google Cloud, Oracle, and AWS will have their own points of view on this, and I would encourage all of them to speak up.

04:20 — I'm not talking about name-calling, but a very clear and well-articulated, reasoned, customer-oriented set of here's where I stand versus competitors here. I was glad to see this from Microsoft. I hope everybody does it, and later this morning on Cloud Wars, I'll have a detailed article offering the verbatim comments that Nadella made about these different subjects.

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In today’s Cloud Wars Minute, I highlight how the rapid rise of AI — without the right security in place — could be the biggest unseen threat to your business.

Highlights

00:03 — IBM's new "Cost of a Data Breach" report has revealed that while AI adoption is on the rise, AI security and governance are lagging significantly. Suja Viswesan, Vice President, Security and Runtime Products at IBM, explains that the data shows a gap between AI adoption and oversight already exists, and threat actors are starting to exploit it.

00:57 — 13% of organizations reported breaches involving AI models or applications, while 8% of organizations were unsure if they had been compromised in this way. Among those surveyed who experienced a breach, 97% indicated that they had no AI access controls in place. As a result, 60% of AI-related security incidents led to compromised data, and 31% resulted in operational disruptions.

01:56 — In contrast, organizations that utilize AI and automation in their security operations save an average of $1.9 million in breach costs and reduce the breach life cycle by approximately 80 days. However, it's important to remember that 16% of breaches still involve AI tools, primarily in phishing or deepfake impersonation attacks.

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In today's Cloud Wars Minute, I reveal why AWS’s growth, though strong in isolation, looks sluggish compared to its peers.

Highlights

00:29 — We're seeing a distinct split looking at the Q2 numbers. We've got three sprinters — Microsoft, Google, and Oracle — and we've got one stroller, which is AWS. Now, also, just a quick detail: the first three companies — Microsoft, Google, and AWS — all follow the quarterly calendar pattern.

01:30 — Microsoft in Q1 grew 20% to $42.4 billion. In Q2, that growth shot up from 20% to 27%, revenue for Microsoft Cloud was $46.7 billion. Google: Q1, 28% growth to $12.3 billion. Q2, that growth accelerated from 28% to 32%; revenue reached $13.6 billion. Oracle: 23% growth in what I'm calling Q1 to $6.2 billion. That growth jumped to 27% in its most recent quarter: $6.7 billion.

02:39 — Oracle has guided that its fiscal 2026 RPO — that’ll end May 31 — will grow 100%. So while its cloud revenue currently isn't that big, its RPO is enormous, and its growing very fast there. Now, here's the outlier: AWS. Q1 grew 17% to $29.3 billion. Come over to Q2 — again, it was the slowest growing — 17.5% to almost $31 billion.

03:21 — I think the point to look at here, though, is all four of the companies' growth accelerated from Q1 to Q2. But while the others all showed significant jumps in growth rate Q1 to Q2, Amazon — or AWS — was a modest half-point: from 17 to 17.5%.

04:01 — Taking their total Q2 revenues, who got what chunk? Microsoft: 47%. Google: 13.9%. Oracle: 6.8%. AWS: 31.6%. Who is grabbing more of the new business? Who are customers — right here, right now — signing up with? Look at AWS: 31.6% of the total, but only 20.8% of the new revenue meaning that it is taking less share than its overall size and mass would indicate.

05:19 — Now, AWS — I will say before I close here — it’s perhaps unfair, in the category of, you know, "life's not always fair," that AWS — almost at about a $30 billion scale — grew 17.5%. And in any other industry, at any other time, that would be lauded as absolutely stunning and fantastic. But compared to their competitors, it's not doing as well. So it's a wild time in the Cloud Wars.

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In today's Cloud Wars Minute, I break down reports of a potential $1.2 billion cloud deal between Google Cloud and ServiceNow, and what it means for the ever-intensifying battle among the cloud giants.

Highlights

00:04 — Google Cloud has just secured a massive cloud deal with ServiceNow worth an estimated $1.2 billion over five years. In its latest filing, ServiceNow states that it's entered into various non-cancellable agreements with cloud service providers, under which it is committed to spend an aggregate of approximately $4.8 billion through 2030 on cloud services.

00:29 — However, neither Google Cloud nor ServiceNow would comment on the alleged $1.2 billion deal.

00:55 —This deal, although many details are yet to emerge, serves as a great reminder of how crucial cloud infrastructure is to leading tech companies — both those providing cloud services and those that utilize them. Now, while AI has dominated the headlines in recent months — perhaps we're looking at years even — the demand for cloud infrastructure remains consistent.

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business history.

Highlights

00:14 — Now, any question about this greatest growth market the world has ever known was blown away last week, when Microsoft reported its fiscal Q4 earnings. And I think Microsoft's Q4 results have to be regarded as the greatest quarterly results of any company in any industry of all time.

00:40 — Now, I cannot say that I have done a rigorous analysis of every quarterly report from every company in every industry there's ever been. But I will be wide open to hearing from anybody about anything that expands this. It could have grown even more, but customer demand is just swamping ability to build out data center capacity.

01:38 — Microsoft Cloud used to be a nice, healthy portion of its business. It's now 61% of Microsoft's overall revenue. The total number for Microsoft's remaining performance obligation: $368 billion — a phenomenal, huge number. But it grew 37%, so you've got a combination here of scale with an incredible rate of growth here on this.

03:31 — Azure in Q4, it grew 39%. If you look at the full year, Azure grew 34%. Now, revenue for Azure is over $75 billion. And the Q1 growth guidance for Azure is 37%. So again, even at these very large numbers, the growth rates are astonishing. Also looking ahead to Q1, which will end September 30, CFO Amy Hood said the CapEx is expected to be $30 billion.

04:45 — We saw Google Cloud last week report very, very strong Q4. It's up 32% to $13.6 billion. Oracle's reporting just spectacular growth rates. RPO in its most recent quarter was 62%, and they're predicting 100% RPO for their fiscal year, which will end May 31 of next year. AWS numbers haven't come out yet, so I will get to them later next week. But hats off to Microsoft.

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Welcome to the Cloud Wars Minute — your daily cloud news and commentary show. Each episode provides insights and perspectives around the “reimagination machine” that is the cloud.

In today’s Cloud Wars Minute, I explore the fierce competition among tech giants to attract the brightest minds in AI as the race for dominance ramps up a gear.

Highlights

00:03 — As the battle for AI dominance among the Cloud Wars Top 10 heats up, the race for talent has escalated. The latest executive to switch sides is Amar Subramanya, the former Vice President of Engineering at Google, who was responsible for developing the Gemini assistant and had been with the company for 16 years, is now joining Microsoft AI as Corporate Vice President for AI.

00:28 — Ultimately, the stakes are so high that companies are now willing to shell out incredible sums to secure the best talent in the business. Recently ,OpenAI CEO Sam Altman stated that Meta was offering his employees $100 million signing bonuses.

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00:50 — Interestingly, this hiring drive by Microsoft comes at a time when the company has announced significant layoffs. However, this shouldn’t be viewed negatively. Instead, it serves as a poignant reminder of how the tech industry is pivoting towards AI and how these skills are becoming increasingly essential for workers in the industry.

01:36 — The AI Revolution is ushering in a new wave of innovation, reminiscent of the startup culture that defined the Silicon Valley boom. Companies that wish to hire the best talent need to keep this in mind and embrace the desire of tech executives to explore new ideas and innovate beyond the confines of the copy-paste approach that has come to characterize many technologies.

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In today's Cloud Wars Minute, I share how IBM has built a $7.5 billion GenAI business in just 18 months, transforming everything from mainframes to consulting under the bold leadership of CEO Arvind Krishna.

Highlights

00:13 — IBM last week reported its Q2 numbers. Very impressive. I thought one of the most interesting points was that in just 18 months, IBM has built up a GenAI business with a revenue run rate of $7.5 billion. And that GenAI impact is cutting across IBM's entire, huge product portfolio, everything from mainframes to software to consulting.

01:00 —This is a company that's 114 years young. And if you were to stack up all the startups or companies of any age that launched AI businesses within the last 18 months, I wonder how many of those would now have revenue of $7.5 billion. But IBM is right there, smack in the middle of that business. Krishna said GenAI's sparking growth in everything — even with mainframes.

02:16 — And on the software level, Krishna said that this new rise of the AI products within IBM are helping to improve products it currently has, like Apptio, Turbonomic, and HashiCorp, adding additional value to them. Now, one area where Krishna said there could be a little bit of cannibalization is in the broad area of consulting.

03:29 — This is all another sign of the remarkable job that Arvind Krishna has done in his five years now as the CEO at IBM. It's hard to recall, as well as the company's doing now and the innovation that's underway, what a mess it was five years ago when Krishna took over. IBM now has a fantastic portfolio of partnerships with many of the Cloud Wars Top 10 companies.

04:30 — So again, a big turnover here in the products, the technologies that come to use, how it goes to market, and the culture that it takes out to clients to let them know: We at IBM are very happy to bring together the best of the best companies in the world to drive new value for those clients. So hats off to IBM. Very nice quarter.

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Bonnie Tinder is the founder and CEO of Raven Intelligence, an independent B2B peer review site that amplifies the voice of the customer. She focuses on software customers, consulting partners, and software vendors, and helps identify the best partners for their needs. In this episode, she joins Bob Evans to talk about the shifting landscape of enterprise consulting, the rise of AI-driven delivery models, and what these changes mean for both firms and customers navigating digital transformation.

Episode 53 | Smaller, Smarter, Faster

The Big Themes:

• The Traditional Consulting Model Is Quietly Collapsing: The traditional consulting model, built on large teams, playbooks, and high overhead, is no longer viable in the AI-native era. The shift is not a dramatic crash but a slow erosion of outdated practices. Customers no longer accept vague deliverables, bloated staffing, and unclear pricing. Instead, they demand speed, transparency, and clear outcomes.
• Smaller, Nimble Firms Are Positioned to Win: AI and generative tools are leveling the playing field for smaller consultancies. Bonnie argues that boutique firms — once at a disadvantage against the scale of major global consultancies — can now compete on an equal footing due to AI’s democratization of data analysis, automation, and service delivery. These smaller firms often move faster, customize more effectively, and offer high-touch support without layers of bureaucracy.
• Transparency Is the New Currency of Trust: Bonnie criticizes large consulting firms for their persistent lack of transparency. Many resist public reviews, avoid accountability, and cherry-pick what gets showcased — raising red flags for discerning clients. She argues that in an era of instant data and shared experience, opacity is no longer acceptable. The future of consulting depends on a firm’s willingness to open itself to scrutiny and prove its worth.

The Big Quote: “The disruption isn't necessarily a slowdown in the need for consulting. It's just the shift in how technology is getting delivered. It's in what the value of the consultant is. It's no longer building codes and the architecture as much as it is the change management and the ability to help customers make good, fast decisions."

More from Bonnie Tinder:

Connect with Bonnie on LinkedIn or send a message via her Acceleration Economy Analyst page.

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 In today's Cloud Wars Minute, I spotlight a powerful joint message from two of Europe’s top tech CEOs, Siemens CEO Roland Busch and SAP CEO Christian Klein, who are urging the European Union to reconsider its AI legislation.

Highlights

00:03 — The CEOs of Siemens and SAP have urged the EU to reconsider its AI legislation, expressing concerns that the current law hinders innovation. SAP CEO Christian Klein and Siemens CEO Roland Busch are advocating for a new regulatory framework that supports AI innovation rather than stifling it. Busch cited the EU's AI Act as the reason that Europe is falling behind.

00:46 — Klein echoed these concerns. Both CEOs believe the first step should be reevaluating the existing legislation affecting AI innovators in Europe. While the AI Act is designed to ensure the safe development and deployment of AI technologies, it also risks stifling innovation.

01:17 — This can lead to monopolization and hold back key innovators in the EU who are working collectively with their global partners to create what will become the cornerstones of the AI era. And there's a strong case for collaboration here. Both tech companies and legislators need to align in establishing the foundations for a thriving yet safe AI operations landscape.

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