Oracle Steps Up Maintenance Costs for Trying Partial Support

There is a discussion on Oracle-l that express concerns about Oracle’s pricing strategy for ongoing maintenance revenues, some accusing Oracle of forcing a renegotiation of maintenance process if customers try to save money by dropping support for selected products. 

According to Thomas Roach, Oracle is reversing deep discounts on maintenance fees if Oracle customers drop support for selected products:

“We wanted to drop support for a couple of products, but were told that if we did that, the other items purchased in the same order would get bumped to list price and we would have to pay 22% of that for support.”

Mark Bobak, a senior Oracle DBA at ProQuest in Detroit, notes that Oracle support is fixed at 22% of the full-list price, and suggests that Oracle is not being straightforward, flim-flamming their customers:

“it sounds like they're trying to flim-flam you by telling you the truth (i.e. "you'll have to pay 22% of list price!") without telling you you've always been paying 22% of list price.”

Ongoing maintenance revenue is important to all database vendors, especially in a mature market, and it’s not uncommon for Oracle to give discounts on maintenance pricing, but they never guarantee the costs from year-to-year.

Oracle licensing is more complicated than ever before, and many shops hire experienced Oracle license negotiators to help you negotiate yearly maintenance fees with Oracle Corporation.