Just a quick post to spread the news that Oracle Database 11g Release 2 is now generally available. Download it for Linux today. See the press release for the usual details.

Here is an interesting tidbit of info from a PC World article:

The new release is the product of some 1,500 developers and 15 million hours of testing, according to Mark Townsend, vice president of database product management.

Update: In reading Lowering your IT Costs with Oracle Database 11g Release 2 I noticed this interesting tidbit:

With Oracle Datanase 11g Release 2, the Exadata Storage servers also enable new hybrid columnar compression technology that provides up to a 10 times compression ratio, without any loss of query performance. And, for pure historical data, a new archival level of hybrid columnar compression can be used that provides up to 40 times compression ratios.

Hybrid columnar compression is a new method for organizing how data is stored. Instead of storing the data in traditional rows, the data is grouped, ordered and stored one column at a time. This type of format offers a higher degree of compression for data that is loaded into a table for data warehousing queries. Different compression techniques can also be used on different partitions within a table.

Cool, Exadata now has column organized storage. Things are certainly getting very interesting in Exadata land.

Be sure to check out the Oracle Database 11g Release 2 New Features Guide for more goodies.

Update 2: For those attending OOW 2009, there will be a session on the new technology - Oracle’s Hybrid Columnar Compression: The Next-Generation Compression Technology (S311358) on Tuesday 10/13/2009 13:00 - 14:00.