Another big consideration for partners is how they'll adapt to Oracle's emerging cloud computing strategy, which includes its new Fusion Applications delivered as SaaS from data centers powered by Exadata and Exalogic.

It took Oracle seven years to develop and release Fusion Applications, which will also be available on-premises using the same codebase. Many large systems integrators have developed practices around Fusion Applications implementations.

Right now, about 200 customers are running Fusion Applications, said executive vice president of product development Thomas Kurian in a prepared presentation during the webcast. "A number" of these customers "are live," he said, presumably meaning in full production, while "many more will go live this summer."

Some have gone from buying the software to going live in as little as 18 days, while others have done so in two or three months, Kurian said.

Right now, Oracle is offering Fusion HCM (human capital management), recruiting, sales, marketing and customer service, with ERP (enterprise resource planning) and supply chain coming soon, he said.