Oracle pulls Exadata ad claims after IBM's complaint

24.07.2012
Oracle is yanking advertising claims that its Exadata database machine had vastly super performance to IBM's Power Systems hardware, according to an by the National Advertising Division, an industry self-regulatory group.

IBM had challenged Oracle's claims, which were made in a Wall Street Journal advertisement. The ads stated, "Exadata 20x Faster ... Replaces IBM Again" as well as "Giant European Retailer Moves Databases from IBM Power to Exadata ... Runs 20 Times Faster," according to the NAD.

Oracle's claim of running 20 times faster than Power Systems was overly broad, inferring that Exadata had bested all Power Systems products, IBM had argued in its appeal to the NAD.

However, Oracle characterized its ad as a case study describing the experience of a single customer, and argued the "sophisticated target audience" would glean that nuance, the NAD said.

The NAD ultimately sided with IBM, finding that "at least one reasonable interpretation of the challenged advertisement is that all -- or a vast majority -- of Exadata systems consistently perform 20 times faster in all or many respects than all -- or a vast majority -- of IBM Power systems," it said in a statement. "The message was not supported by the evidence in the record."

While Oracle agreed to stop running the ad, it also plans to appeal NAD's decision, which it called "unduly broad," according to the announcement.