Oracle ups memory, storage of Exalytics analytics appliance

Oracle is introducing a new generation of its Exalytics appliance for high-speed data analysis that comes with a slightly higher price tag but major increases in memory and storage capacity.

Exalytics In-Memory Machine X3-4, which was announced Monday, includes 2TB of RAM, 2.4TB of flash storage as well as 5.4TB of traditional disk storage. As with the first incarnation, released last year, the Exalytics box is certified for a range of integrated Oracle software, including BI Foundation Suite, the TimesTen in-memory cache, Hyperion Essbase and Endeca Information Discovery.

OracleOracle Exalytics Business Intelligence machine
All of those software products were recently updated as well, said Paul Rodwick, vice president of product management for Oracle Business Intelligence.

The initial version of Exalytics, X2-4, had only 1TB of RAM and 3.6TB of raw disk, although Oracle already introduced a 2.4TB flash expansion pack option.

Oracle has also maintained the same level processing power, including four 10-core processors in the rack. The company is planning to offer X2-4 users the ability to add more RAM to their machines, Rodwick said.

X3-4’s hardware lists for $175,000, compared to $135,000 for X2-4, according to an official price schedule.

Exalytics works in conjunction with Oracle’s original “engineered system,” Exadata, although the latter can run both transactional and analytic workloads in the same box.

Exadata is the most popular so far of Oracle’s engineered systems, but the company is now seeing customers buy multiple Exalytics machines at once as well as make subsequent purchases, according to Rodwick. He declined to provide current sales totals.

Oracle is betting big on the engineered system strategy. Officials have defended steadily-falling hardware revenues since Oracle’s acquisition of Sun Microsystems, arguing that the company is focusing on higher-margin products like Exadata and Exalytics, which also carry plenty of lucrative software licenses, rather than commodity servers.

Exalytics was linked to Oracle’s decision to cut the price of BI Foundation Suite significantly, from $450,000 per processor to $300,000, according to Rodwick. By doing so, Oracle hopes customers will be more inclined to license the software for every processor in an Exalytics box, as well as multiple boxes, he said.

“Companies run Oracle BI in mission-critical fashion,” he said. “There’s more and more interest in high availability for analytics. When the system is down, the company is essentially blind.”

Oracle is running into many companies that want to set up redundant Exalytics environments in order to ensure continuous access to analytics, he said.

New Argument in Forced-Decryption Case: Defendant's Memory Is Ticking Clock

Federal prosecutors are urging a federal judge to demand a Wisconsin man immediately decrypt several hard drives they believe contain child pornography.

The authorities have been litigating the constitutionality of the decryption issue for months, and want the suspect, Jeffrey Feldman, to decrypt the drives before he forgets the passwords. Federal prosecutors say Feldman can, even after decrypting, continue litigating his claim that the Fifth Amendment protects him from having to unlock at least seven hard drives in the case.

“As more time passes, it is increasingly possible that Feldman could forget his passwords, and currently-encrypted evidence may be lost as a result,” federal prosecutor Karine Moreno-Taxman wrote in a brief filing (.pdf) Friday. “The Court can reduce this risk by requiring Feldman to provide the Court with the decrypted contents of his hard drives now, ex parte and under seal, so that they can be securely retained pending the adjudication of the Fifth-Amendment question.”

The suspect’s attorney, Robin Shellow, scoffed at the government’s proposal, saying it was a backdoor attempt to get his client thrown in jail immediately. That’s because, she said, Feldman is not going to decrypt his drives, no matter what, meaning the government’s offer essentially hastens a potential contempt-of-court charge.

“My client is not giving up his Fifth Amendment right, period,” she said in a telephone interview today. “This is pressure: ‘We’re gonna throw you in jail and see how you like it while we litigate it.’”

In the end, she said, “We’re not decrypting.”

The Supreme Court has never decided the issue of whether decryption orders, which are rare, breach the Fifth Amendment right against compelled self-incrimination. The issue is likely to become a more commonplace legal flap as the public slowly embraces a technology that comes standard today on most computer operating systems.

What’s more, encryption has recently been thrust to the public’s attention in the wake of the NSA Spygate scandal as Americans consider looking for effective ways to scramble their communications from the government’s prying eyes.

The Wisconsin decryption flap has been in court since April, after the authorities seized the drives from the computer scientist’s Wisconsin apartment. A magistrate had originally blocked the government’s efforts in ordering Feldman to decrypt the drives. The magistrate subsequently changed his mind, but was removed from the case on procedural grounds — leaving the case back to square one with no end in sight.

Shellow claims a decryption order is akin to forcing her client to build a case for the government. That’s because encryption basically transforms files into unreadable text, which is then rebuilt when the proper password is entered, she said.

“Some encryption effects erasure of the encrypted data (so it ceases to exist), in which case decryption constitutes re-creation of the data, rather than simply unlocking still-existing data,” Shellow wrote in a court filing. (.pdf)

Among the last times an encryption order came up in court was last year, when a federal appeals court rejected an appeal from a bank-fraud defendant who has been ordered to decrypt her laptop so its contents could be used in her criminal case. The issue was later mooted for defendant Romano Fricosu, as a co-defendant eventually supplied a password.

It might not bode so well for Feldman if he eventually claims he forgot his passwords, as the government fears. While that issue has not been addressed in court as it relates to encryption, judges usually view forgetfulness as a “sham or subterfuge that purposely avoids giving responsive answers.”

The authorities believe Feldman downloaded child pornography from the file-sharing e-Donkey network.

Broadway to Dim Lights Wednesday in Memory of James Gandolfini

NEW YORK -- Broadway theaters will dim their marquee lights for one minute before curtain time Wednesday evening to honor the memory of James Gandolfini.

The actor, who died suddenly last week in Italy at age 51, was best known for his television and movie roles, most notably on the landmark HBO series The Sopranos.

PHOTOS: James Gandolfini's Life and Career in Pictures

But his Broadway credits included a Tony-nominated leading performance in God of Carnage, Yasmina Reza's four-character comedy-drama about the primitive behavior lurking beneath polite social restraint. That all-star 2009 production also featured Jeff Daniels, Hope Davis and Marcia Gay Harden. It won three Tony Awards -- for best play, director Matthew Warchus and lead actress Harden.

That same cast reunited two years after their hit Broadway run for a sold-out engagement of the play at the Ahmanson Theatre in Los Angeles.

STORY: James Gandolfini's Body Arrives in New Jersey

Gandolfini made his Broadway debut in the ensemble of the 1992 revival of Tennessee Williams' A Streetcar Named Desire, which starred Alec Baldwin and Jessica Lange. He also appeared in a short-lived 1995 production of Budd Schulberg's On the Waterfront, with Kevin Conway, Ron Eldard, Penelope Ann Miller and David Morse.

"James Gandolfini was a consummate actor who brought individuality to each role and inspired a true connection with the audience," said Charlotte St. Martin, executive director of the Broadway League.