Oracle Compute Cloud@Customer (CCC) is Oracle's answer to Azure Stack HCI and VMware Cloud Foundation - an OCI-compatible compute appliance physically deployed in the customer's data centre. CCC carries the same OCI compute control plane as the public OCI regions, supports the same VM shapes, the same Kubernetes (OCI Container Engine / OKE) integration, and the same OCI Object/Block storage tiers - all running on-premises with sub-millisecond latency to the customer's application tier. This article decodes the CCC architecture, the 2026 pricing model, the BYOL rules for Oracle software running inside CCC VMs, the supported workload patterns, and the seven contract redlines that move CCC commercial outcomes 20-35 percent on a typical mid-size deployment.
Oracle's Cloud@Customer portfolio has historically been database-centric. Exadata Cloud@Customer landed in 2017 to put the Oracle Database tier in customer facilities. Database@Customer extended that to customer-supplied hardware in 2024. Dedicated Region put the full OCI region in customer facilities for the largest deployments. Compute Cloud@Customer (CCC), GA in late 2023 and now in its second hardware generation, fills the gap between these database-centric offerings and the full-region DRCC commitment. CCC delivers OCI-grade compute, storage, networking and Kubernetes on an appliance footprint roughly one-tenth the size of a minimum DRCC commitment.
The use case is clear: customers who need OCI-compatible VM/container workloads in their own data centre but do not need a managed Oracle Database service (or get the database service from a separate ExaCC/Database@Customer footprint), and cannot justify the $4M+ annual MCC of a full DRCC deployment. CCC slots between $400K and $1.5M annual run-cost for typical deployments, with no MCC floor on the smallest configurations.
The wider on-premise OCI architecture sits in the Oracle Dedicated Region Guide; the broader catalogue comparison is at Which Oracle software on Cloud@Customer; the public-OCI alternative comparison is at Cloud@Customer vs OCI public region; the broader licensing framework sits at Oracle Cloud Licensing Guide.
The current Compute Cloud@Customer generation (CCC X11, GA Q4 2025) ships as a 16-rack-unit appliance or a 40-rack-unit appliance, both delivered as a single physical unit on Oracle X11-generation hardware. The appliance bundles compute nodes (Intel Xeon or AMD EPYC, customer-selectable), local NVMe storage, an OCI-grade fabric (RoCEv2 over 100GbE), and the OCI control plane software for the on-prem region.
Hardware specs for the standard small (16U) CCC X11 appliance:
The large (40U) CCC X11 appliance carries roughly 3x the compute and storage capacity at a less-than-3x price point. Both appliances are deployed by Oracle field services - the customer provides the rack, power (typically 25-40 kW per appliance), cooling and network connectivity.
The control plane runs OCI's standard region-management software locally, but with a thin connection back to a managed Oracle region for software updates, telemetry and licence-compliance metering. The customer's data plane (VMs, storage, customer traffic) stays entirely on-appliance.
CCC supports a curated subset of the OCI compute and platform services. The 2026 catalogue:
| OCI service | CCC support | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| OCI Compute (VM Standard.E3/E4/E5) | Yes | AMD EPYC shapes; same image catalogue as public OCI |
| OCI Compute (VM Standard.X9/X11) | Yes | Intel Xeon shapes |
| OCI Compute (bare metal) | Limited - large appliance only | BM.Standard shapes on the 40U appliance |
| OCI Compute (GPU) | No (in 2026) | GPU shapes are public-OCI or DRCC only |
| OCI Block Storage | Yes | Local NVMe on the appliance |
| OCI Object Storage | Yes | Local S3-compatible object store |
| OCI File Storage | Yes (Q4 2026 roadmap) | NFS service in beta |
| OCI Container Engine for Kubernetes (OKE) | Yes | Full OKE on-appliance, public-OCI compatible |
| OCI Virtual Cloud Network (VCN) | Yes | Same VCN constructs as public OCI |
| OCI Load Balancer | Yes | Standard and Flexible Load Balancer |
| OCI Identity and Access Management (IAM) | Yes | Federated with customer IdP |
| OCI Vault (KMS) | Yes | HSM-backed key management on-appliance |
| OCI Logging / Monitoring | Yes | Local logs with optional ship-to-OCI-public |
| OCI Functions (serverless) | Limited (Q3 2026) | Beta support |
| OCI API Gateway | Yes | Full API Gateway capability |
| OCI Streaming (managed Kafka) | Yes | On-appliance Kafka |
| OCI Database (managed Oracle Database) | No | CCC is compute-only; database service requires ExaCC/DBCC/DRCC |
The deliberate gap: CCC does not run a managed Oracle Database service. Customers who want managed Oracle Database on-premises pair CCC (for application tier) with ExaCC or Database@Customer (for database tier), or step up to a Dedicated Region for both.
We benchmark your CCC sizing against your actual workload list, validate the BYOL coverage strategy, and walk the seven contract redlines before you sign. Fixed-fee, 2 weeks. Typical recovery: 18-28 percent of 5-year run-cost.
CCC pricing has three components: the infrastructure fee (fixed per appliance, monthly), the OCPU consumption fee (metered hourly), and the storage fee (metered GB-month). Reference 2026 rates:
| Line item | Rate | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| CCC Infrastructure - small appliance (16U X11) | $8,400/month | ~$100K/year fixed |
| CCC Infrastructure - large appliance (40U X11) | $24,500/month | ~$294K/year fixed |
| Compute Standard VM - OCPU/hour | $0.025-$0.038 | Varies by shape; X11 newer shapes higher |
| Compute Bare Metal - OCPU/hour | $0.055 | Large appliance only |
| Block Storage - GB/month | $0.0255 | NVMe-backed |
| Object Storage - GB/month | $0.0255 | Local S3-compatible |
| OKE managed control plane - cluster/month | $192 | Per cluster; node OCPUs metered separately |
| Annual rate escalator (default) | 8% | NEGOTIABLE - cap at 0-3% |
Worked example: a 16U CCC X11 deployed for application workloads running 100 OCPUs (out of 192 capacity) at 24/7 utilisation, 20TB block storage, 50TB object storage, 5 OKE clusters:
The example assumes BYOL on Oracle software running inside the VMs (see next section). The customer with comparable workload in public OCI would pay roughly $80K/year for the same capacity - the CCC premium is the $75K/year for on-premises footprint.
This is where CCC gets subtle. The CCC appliance itself is metered by Oracle (the OCPU and storage rates above). Any Oracle software running inside the customer's VMs on CCC requires standard Oracle licensing, exactly as if the VM were running on customer-owned hardware.
| Oracle software inside CCC VM | Licensing rule | Audit defence note |
|---|---|---|
| Oracle Database EE/SE2 | Standard Processor or NUP licensing, BYOL | Use Core Factor Table; CCC OCPU = 1 physical core for licensing |
| Oracle WebLogic Server EE/SUITE | Standard Processor licensing, BYOL | Core Factor applies; restricted-use bundles still restricted |
| Oracle Java SE | Java SE Universal Subscription (per Employee) if subscribed; otherwise per-Processor BYOL | Same audit posture as on-premises Java |
| Oracle Linux Premier Support | Per-Linux-host subscription | One subscription per Oracle Linux VM (or per OCPU on the appliance) |
| Oracle GoldenGate | Standard Processor licensing, BYOL | Source and target both require GG licence |
| Oracle Database Options (Partitioning, Diagnostics, Tuning, etc.) | Match the underlying DB licence; BYOL | LMS scan applies inside CCC VMs same as on-premises |
The critical point: CCC is NOT an Oracle licence-free zone. The OCPU rate the customer pays Oracle for CCC covers the appliance and the OCI compute control plane. Any Oracle Database, WebLogic, Java, or other Oracle product the customer deploys inside their CCC VMs requires the same licences as a deployment on customer-owned x86 hardware.
The audit exposure inside CCC VMs is the same as on-premises VMware or KVM environments. LMS can scan the customer's CCC tenancy via the OCI control plane and see exactly which Oracle products are deployed in which VMs. The wider audit-defence framework is in the Oracle Audit Guide; the Java-specific framework is in the Oracle Java Licensing Guide; the broader on-premises licensing rules are in the Oracle Database Licensing Guide.
CCC is positioned for three primary workload patterns in 2026:
Pattern 1 - Application tier with co-located managed database (ExaCC + CCC combo). The customer deploys ExaCC for the Oracle Database tier, and CCC alongside for the application tier (EBS, PeopleSoft, JD Edwards, Siebel, custom Java/.NET apps). The two appliances connect over the customer's data centre fabric with sub-millisecond latency. This is the most common CCC pattern in 2026.
Pattern 2 - On-premises Kubernetes/container workloads with OCI compatibility. The customer runs modernised microservices on OCI Container Engine (OKE) inside CCC, with image and registry compatibility with public-OCI OKE. Workloads can move bi-directionally between CCC and public-OCI OKE without rework.
Pattern 3 - Sovereign cloud workloads requiring physical data residency. Regulated industries (defence, sovereign banking, government) using CCC for OCI-compatible compute in facilities that cannot connect to public-OCI for sovereignty reasons. The CCC OCI control plane runs disconnected or air-gapped with periodic offline updates.
OCI Container Engine for Kubernetes (OKE) on CCC is the strongest single use case for the platform in 2026. The implementation is functionally identical to public-OCI OKE:
The portability story is meaningful: a workload built and tested on public-OCI OKE deploys to CCC OKE without container image changes, manifest changes, or service-mesh reconfiguration. This is the strongest commercial argument for CCC over alternative on-premises Kubernetes platforms (Red Hat OpenShift, Rancher, vanilla Kubernetes on VMware).
Five limitations to validate before committing to CCC:
The diagnostic before committing to CCC: list every Oracle service the workload depends on, cross-reference against the CCC service catalogue, identify gaps, and design the gap-fill (typically: connect CCC to a public-OCI region via FastConnect for the missing services, or upgrade to DRCC).
CCC pricing is more negotiable than Oracle's deal team will initially suggest. The seven levers that move outcomes most:
The wider procurement playbook including escalator-cap and exit-clause language is in the Oracle Negotiation Guide and the parallel DRCC negotiation moves are at DRCC contract levers. The pre-signing cost benchmark is at Cloud@Customer cost.
CCC is a single compute appliance (16U or 40U) at customer site. DRCC is a full OCI region - multiple Exadata + compute racks - at customer facility. CCC starts at ~$100K/year infrastructure; DRCC starts at $4M+/year MCC. CCC carries a curated subset of the OCI catalogue (compute, storage, networking, K8s); DRCC carries nearly the full OCI catalogue. CCC is the right fit when the customer needs OCI-compatible compute on-premises but does not need the full region. See Cloud@Customer vs Dedicated Region.
Yes, but as a self-managed install inside a customer-managed VM, with full BYOL licensing applied. CCC does not run Oracle Database as a managed service - that is what ExaCC and Database@Customer are for. Customers running Oracle Database on a CCC VM are responsible for install, patching, lifecycle and high availability themselves. The licensing rules are identical to running Oracle Database on customer-owned x86 hardware.
A small (16U) CCC X11 appliance with moderate utilisation typically runs $750K-$1.1M over 5 years (infrastructure + OCPU consumption + storage). A large (40U) CCC X11 with full utilisation typically runs $2.2M-$3.5M over 5 years. Add Oracle software licensing inside the VMs separately - this is BYOL and not bundled in the CCC fees. See Cloud@Customer cost for the full breakdown.
Yes. Common migration patterns from VMware to CCC: live-migrate VMs from VMware to CCC using HCX or Veeam; rehost-and-modernise to OCI Container Engine for Kubernetes on CCC; or refactor to OCI-native services on CCC. The BYOL licence pool used on the original VMware environment (Oracle Database, WebLogic, Java) transfers to the CCC deployment unchanged, provided the documentation is clean. See Oracle Compliance Guide for the broader VMware-related licensing rules.
Yes, for Oracle software running inside customer-managed VMs on CCC. The CCC appliance itself is metered by Oracle through the OCI control plane (the consumption record is authoritative), but Oracle products deployed inside the customer's VMs are subject to the standard LMS audit rights - the same as if those products were running on customer-owned hardware. Customers should treat Oracle software inside CCC VMs with the same compliance discipline as any on-premises Oracle deployment. See Oracle Audit Guide.
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