I think it’s appropriate to highlight Oracle Database 26ai right here. Oracle Database continues to be the centre of the Oracle ecosystem, it’s everything we need and more!
Sometimes I feel we’re searching something new and flashy to get out from Oracle Database (and to be frank, there has been reasons in the past why folks want out).. but I think nowadays you can stay using Oracle Database without huge cost impact and you will get many cutting edge database features for your use.
Or pick it as database for your new implemementation as well! Start with small Autonomous Database and expand there as you go along.
With 26ai we’re still lagging on getting there, many folks who are on 19c don’t see huge reason to upgrade and while it would be great to get there.. 19c continues to be really stable with support continuing long long time.
So, why should we get to 26ai? Some of the features I think are worth mentioning..
26ai new features (my six picks to look deeper)
Data Guard transitions: I saw a slide recently at BC Oracle User Group conference that 26ai brings around 5x faster transitions with Active Data Guard failover and ~3x faster switchover. I think that’s huge if you’re dealing with modern, large databases which support business critical apps.
True Cache: You get fully functional read replica of your primary database which mostly runs in memory. You’ll have to configure application to support True Cache so it’ll now when to use it vs when going to the database.
SQL Firewall: Now directly embedded in the database, I haven’t configured/tested it but you would record your typical transactions/SQLs and then make allowlist on what is allowed on the database. Depending on your maturity/security requirements you can then configure accordingly. Also, other configuration options exist like limiting where/how folks can connect etc.
AI Vector Search: The nice thing is that AI Vector Search is included without additional charges even for Autonomous DB Free tier. You have new VECTOR database type and you’ll be able to create embeddings inside our outside of the database and load them in. You’ll also have Vector Indexes. And if you’re running on top of Exadata, these all are optimized for Exadata AI Smart Scan!
Converged Database: This connects to what I mentioned at the start of this post.. you have one database that can do things where for others, you might need multitude of solutions. With 26ai you get support for different data under same Oracle DB engine. Documents, Graphs, Vectors, relational etc. You can combine things with a single SQL statement with this unified model.
Folks will mention lock-in as counter argument but I feel there’s pretty much lock-in with most of your architectural decisions! You’ll get same governance and consistency always with Oracle DB could be another argument I’d use.
Agents & MCP: You can use Select AI agent framework to build autonomous agents inside the database. This is the developer framework so pro-code. Then you’ll have AI Database Private Agent Factory which is more of no-code/low-code solution. One can say it’s also outside the database but I feel it’s still tightly connected for the agentic solution so let’s keep it on the list.
You’ll also have MCP servers available for your agents to connect to the database. You’ll have one directly in the database, Autonomous DB MCP Server which runs inside the Autonomous (I think 19c is also supported..) And then you have the OCI Managed MCP server with public and private endpoints, supported in Multicloud as well.
Summary
There are ton of other new features and functionalities, above is just a fraction. I think there will be more and more drivers coming which will hopefully drive folks moving to 26ai. Right now I feel we’re in the middle of that hurricane that let’s us continue to use Oracle Database 19c for older/existing databases so for many, 26ai is still something to look for. Keep looking to find a way to get your database upgraded! Or implement something new to get the 26ai features for your use.