The tightly integrated hardware, software and storage bundle features Oracle Database11g Release 2 and Real Application Clusters software running on a 2-node, 24-processor core, Sun Fire server cluster hardware.

The pre-configured, pre-installed appliance should appeal to small and mid-size businesses because it can be used virtually right out of the box, analysts said. Sweetening the deal is Oracle's offer of a pay-as-you-grow database software licensing model for the new platform, they added.

The company said the hardware component of the appliance will be sold separately. A configuration that includes two Sun Fire servers, 192GB of main memory, 24 processor cores, 12TB of raw disk storage and 292GB of solid-state disk is priced at $50,000. The company didn't disclose software pricing by press time.

The full Database Appliance's starting price tag is expected to fall below Oracle's popular Exadata integrated database appliance that's targeted at large enterprises.

Like Exadata, Oracle's new product is also an optimized platform for running OLTP and data warehousing applications. However, it would be a mistake to call it a scaled down version of Exadata, said James Kobielus, an analyst with Forrester Research.