1 | Client Overview
- Industry: National big-box retail (2 300 stores plus e-commerce)
- Headcount: 125 000
- Oracle Agreement: 3-year Unlimited Licence Agreement (ULA) covering Database EE, WebLogic, Diagnostics & Tuning Packs
- Time Remaining: 6 months
2 | Problem Statement
- Compliance Exposure – Internal estimates suggested Oracle could claim ≈ $18 million in penalties for database options and new subsidiaries not listed in the ULA.
- Future Capacity – Two major projects (mobile checkout and advanced analytics) would need more Oracle cores after the ULA ended.
- Vendor Pressure – Oracle sales hinted that “misalignment” would force either a true-up or a fresh—and costly—ULA renewal.
Board direction: leave the Oracle ULA compliant, capture every licence legitimately available, and pay Oracle nothing extra.
3 | What We Did (Licensing-Focused Steps)
| Step | Purpose | Oracle-Specific Actions |
|---|---|---|
| 1. Establish a Verifiable Inventory | Know exactly what Oracle products were deployed before the snapshot date. | Collected data with Oracle LMS scripts and cross-checked with purchase history; confirmed versions, options, and locations. |
| 2. Expand Deployments on VMware | Increase licensable core count while rights were still unlimited. | Cloned development and analytics databases onto spare VMware hosts; each new vCPU would convert into a perpetual licence at certification. |
| 3. Close Contract Gaps | Remove or cover items Oracle could challenge. | – Disabled non-covered options (e.g., In-Memory) |
| – Executed a no-fee rider to add two recent acquisitions into the ULA’s legal-entity list. | ||
| 4. Capture Evidence for Certification | Prove every deployment existed before the ULA expired. | Took timestamped screenshots of vCenter, cloud consoles, and LMS outputs; stored them in a read-only repository for Oracle review. |
| 5. Submit the Certification Package | Lock in perpetual entitlements and clear audit risk. | Delivered the formal Certification Letter plus detailed inventory to Oracle GLAS; answered follow-up questions within agreed timelines. |
4 | Outcomes
| Metric | Result |
|---|---|
| Audit / true-up risk | $18 M → $0 (Oracle issued written release) |
| Perpetual licence value | ≈ $180 M (list price of certified cores) |
| Post-ULA capacity buffer | ~35 % above current peak usage |
| Additional fees paid to Oracle | None |
| Certification timeline | Accepted by Oracle 45 days before ULA expiry |
5 | Why the Strategy Worked
- Unlimited Window Exploited Correctly – Deploying extra VMs before the deadline is fully allowed; after certification those cores become perpetual.
- Documented Proof – Oracle cares about evidence. LMS data plus dated screenshots prevented any dispute over deployment timing.
- Contract, Not Policy – Every discussion referenced the signed ULA; later policy notes had no bearing once the contract language was clear.
- Single Negotiation Channel – Finance, IT, and Legal routed all communication through one lead, avoiding mixed signals and sales pressure.
6 | Executive Comment
“Virtualising extra Oracle servers felt odd at first, but the licensing logic is airtight: unlimited today means permanent tomorrow. We walked away with iron-clad compliance and enough licences for five years of growth—at zero extra cost.”
— Chief Information Officer, U.S. Retailer
Facing an expiring Oracle ULA? An evidence-based virtualisation push—done correctly—can convert a countdown into long-term licence equity and eliminate audit risk.
