oracle database machine exadata introduction

For those of you who haven’t followed all the Oracle Exadata and database machine information, and want a brief introduction to the database machine: here it is!

The confusion

There is some confusion about ‘exadata’ and ‘the database machine’. If we look at the official product names, ‘Exadata’ is the storage server, and the ‘Database machine’ is the complete boxed machine, including exadata for storage. But…in the real world, in different kinds of papers (technical, advertising) exadata sometimes is used as an alias for the database machine.