On March 14, 2024, ExCeL London opened its doors to one of the major stops on the global Oracle CloudWorld tour. Alongside the events in Dubai, Milan, and Tokyo, the event was a prelude to the main CloudWorld event which will be happening in Las Vegas in September.

About Oracle CloudWorld

The event is Oracle’s opportunity to showcase all its wares across hardware, cloud, applications, and services. Bringing together customers, partners, vendors, and press, this year the London show had an impressive turnout with thousands of visitors from across the UK, Europe, and beyond. Companies from all industries and individuals from many job functions — from finance to HR to supply chain operations and beyond — attend to find out about how Oracle can support their business goals. 

Sure, the Vegas event is more comprehensive, spanning four days and casting a wider net but, judging by the numbers in attendance and the vibe in the room, London did itself proud.

A Focus on AI

Unsurprisingly, AI was the talk of the show this year, with many sessions covering Oracle’s progress with integrating it into various products. Their achievements in integrating it into OCI and database are certainly more mature — one example is the enabling of AI vector search functionality in Oracle database — with applications being a bit more tentative in its introduction. 

Other Highlights

Other highlights included: 

• The Oracle Partner Summit which provides insight into Oracle’s strategy, their technology roadmap, and new opportunities for partners.
• Discussions on multi-cloud and how Oracle is working on improving its integration with other clouds.
• A review of Oracle’s commitment to sustainability — including the goal to use 100% renewable energy by 2025.
• For the sports fans, an opportunity to try out either the F1 or America’s Cup simulation games, and to have your picture taken with the Premier League trophy.

A Great Networking Opportunity

Beyond the technological revelations, these events are always a fantastic way to network with peers, partners, customers, and suppliers; to reconnect, share insights, and discuss potential collaborations. And while we didn’t personally find time to connect, it was great to see so many people wearing badges of the newly relaunched UKOUG.

Better Transport and the Call of Spring

With the Elizabeth Line now in place on the London Underground, transport to the event was notably smoother this year for many of us. However, the contrast between the promise of technological advancement inside and the beauty of nature outside was clear — it’s a shame the event fell on such a beautiful spring day while we were all indoors. If only the rain clouds had turned up for CloudWorld! But that’s just the way it is with British weather — you never know what to expect.

Looking Ahead

Oracle CloudWorld Las Vegas will paint a broader picture of the company’s latest innovations and Virtual Trader will be there exhibiting as usual. It will also host a much larger number of guests from around the world, bringing more great networking opportunities and a nice dose of community spirit. 

And given the climate, we’ll all be glad to be in the air-conditioned conference space this time!