I’m writing these lines on my way back to Valencia after attending the annual SPOUG event in Madrid. The Oracle Users Group of Spain has grown strong, and the event was centered around six conference rooms where, simultaneously, a series of talks and presentations on Cloud, GenAI, Database, and Applications (JD Edwards, Siebel, Hyperion, NetSuite, and E-Business Suite) took place.

As a DBA and Oracle ACE, with my heart in administration and development, I can say little about the Oracle Apps Unlimited track. My eyes and attention were focused on the following presentations, which, in my biased opinion, were pure gold.

Just like when attending a music festival and you have to carefully choose which stages to visit, here is my selection of talks from this “festival.”

Disclaimer: They are listed in the order of presentation.

 

1.- Connor McDonald – The Future of Data, AI, and Application Development.

Connor is the headliner. His two sessions were a must-see.

This presentation is, by itself, a masterpiece of communication. In under 40 minutes, Connor takes the audience through the evolution of computing and databases from the perspective of storage and data relationships, highlighting the challenges that have arisen since Codd up until today.

Currently, the major database systems (relational, document, graph, etc.) and the need for parallel application development introduce architectures that require their respective integration software. Joining JSON documents with tables, visualizing in GraphSQL, using different vendors for different functionalities, and their respective development, maintenance, and support costs.

Oracle’s proposed future in version 23ai, where data will be stored in a relational format, introduces a management and visualization layer so versatile that ultimately, it will be the developer and the application needs that will dictate how Oracle behaves. For instance, using JSON Duality Views, information can be presented in either JSON or relational format as desired, and managed transactionally from either JSON or SQL language, interchangeably.

A complete paradigm shift in database conception. 

2.- Rita Nuñez Double Session: Replicating Databases with OCI GoldenGate and First Steps with Autonomous DB.

A safe bet.

Rita talked about the evolution of GoldenGate to Microservices starting from version 21c and how easy it is to deploy a replication service between two databases with OCI. It’s important to note that GoldenGate is the go-to solution for logical data replication, as it can integrate and propagate transactions not only between Oracle services but also between heterogeneous databases, including both On-Premise and OCI.

A must-attend talk, and a luxury to hear Rita live again.

Without a break, we switched rooms for Rita’s second talk, where she introduced Autonomous in a practical and simple way. She gave a demo on how to create an autonomous database with just a few clicks and how to start using it from the very first minute.

3.- Connor again. – 23ai – Zero slides, zero PowerPoint, zero marketing, 100% Live Demo!

Technical virtuosity at a frenetic pace.

Connor launched a script on his laptop that displayed a menu with 56 precise demos ready to be executed at the touch of a button. “We’ll go through as many as we can”.

– You can pick a number if you want… Functionality 3: GROUP BY!

We went through a series of visual labs where Connor demonstrated each new feature at a breakneck pace. Simple and precise examples showing the new functionality in a visual use case that went straight to the brain.

4.- Sai Penumuru – Internet of Clouds: A closer look at Oracle Cloud Infrastructure.

Sai has been awarded the best OCI architect of the year at Oracle CloudWorld 2024 in Las Vegas, after being a finalist in the previous two years (2022 and 2023).

The future lies in the cloud—and in the clouds.

 

There are many things to consider in this new service architecture to fully harness its power and versatility. It’s essential to deploy services where they will perform best and to optimize them in ways that meet regulatory requirements (e.g., in industries where it is necessary to use a sovereign cloud), fulfill geographical needs for lower latency, or where modernization strategies can be more efficient.

5a.- Julian Dontcheff – Unlocking the power of Oracle 23ai: Store and process JSON with Relational Duality Views.

If Connor McDonald’s opening talk left you intrigued about how Oracle plans to provide that unified management and visualization layer for the relational world in JSON, Graph, etc., Julian’s demo answered the question with a complete demonstration of how to manage relational tables as JSON through JSON Relational Duality Views.

Ultimately, security and integrity are provided by the relational environment, but applications and developers prefer the document-object format that JSON offers. The Duality Views allow managing tables both with SQL commands and row-and-column projections, as well as with JSON documents. Not only for SELECT queries but also for transactional change management. With this feature, we eliminate the gap between relational and document formats and gain versatility by handling data in the most efficient way possible. The best of both worlds.

 

5b – Heli Helskyaho – Graphs, Graph-RAG, and Generative AI: Introduction.

Simultaneously to Julian’s session, in another room also focused on Cloud, Heli Helskyaho’s talk on Graphs and GenAI took place. To me, it was a scheduling mistake to have these two great speakers present at the same time on such important topics. If Connor opened the event by mentioning Oracle 23ai’s format transparency, both the duality with JSON and the visualization of GraphSQL are equally critical.

You cannot fully understand today’s data management landscape without integrating these four organizational architectures: Relational (SQL), Document (JSON), Graphical (GraphSQL), and GenAI. In her presentation, Heli discussed Graph-RAG (Retrieval Augmented Generation), which combines the power of graphs with GenAI.

Another must-attend talk, and a major oversight to schedule it at the same time as Julian Dontcheff’s session. Attending one meant missing the other, and it would have been amazing to catch both.

6a – Ruben Rodríguez and Carlos Delgado – Enhancing FinOps in OCI: Predictive Analysis and Resource Optimization.

Yet another unmissable talk. It’s impossible to discuss OCI without mentioning FinOps, and as we’re discovering the possibilities of AI, what better way to optimize resources from a financial perspective than by using predictive analysis with AI.

Another essential session that coincided in time with Basheer Khan’s talk. Another big name.

6b – Basheer Khan. Pioneering Possibilities: Generative AI Integration in Oracle Products & Applications.

Basheer is a visionary, looking beyond the initial possibilities of GenAI. His talk explored how many things AI can generate that are yet to be developed, as well as its greatest threats: security and data integrity. Of course, Basheer didn’t shy away from highlighting these dangers, giving us chills with a demo of SQL generation from APEX, based on a natural language prompt.

Excitement and a surprise that arrived earlier than expected. Imagine writing queries and having AI generate the code ready to copy and paste into an application without writing it yourself. What challenges will this pose in terms of software maintenance and evolution?

 

In summary, a powerful event with world-class speakers, and aside from a few scheduling adjustments needed, it was a significant knowledge-sharing experience.

Interesting note here: following Sean Scott’s advice in this article https://medium.oraclesean.com/this-secret-powerpoint-trick-instantly-improves-presentations-by-100x-74129d0bb87c, after presenting at the LAOUC Tour in both Spanish and English, many international speakers included simultaneous Spanish translation in PowerPoint. It was quite accurate and extremely helpful for non-English speakers, of which there were many.

Mental note for next year: I need to plan my schedule in advance and attend talks with sniper-like precision.

Things to improve for SPOUG2025: The 40-minute sessions length were too short in many cases, and there wasn’t enough time between sessions, which made it hard to process everything without a 10-minute break between talks.

 

See you all at #SPOUG2025.

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