Oracle has revealed new application development functionalities for Oracle Cloud Infrastructure (OCI), all geared towards empowering developers to construct and deploy rapid applications on the OCI platform. The new features are designed with cloud-native and Java developers in mind, aimed at supporting them to create efficient cloud-native applications while cutting expenses. Another innovative step from Oracle involves implementing generative AI models within its application development.

"Today we are announcing several new capabilities across our cloud native and Java portfolios that will enable developers to simplify and accelerate the development, deployment, and management of applications while reducing costs," said Mahesh Thiagarajan, executive vice president, Security and Developer Platforms, Oracle Cloud Infrastructure. He added, "with our upcoming new generative AI services, Oracle will help developers further leverage the latest technologies to help drive business growth."

New offerings intended for Java developers include Java 21, designed to boost the development of robust, scalable, and secure applications. The tool offers improved performance, stability, and security, along with Java Development Kit (JDK) Enhancement Proposals. GraalOS focuses on improving application response times and reducing costs while OCI Functions powered by GraalOS addresses the issue of slow cold starts in application execution. Another tool, Graal Cloud Native 4.0, aims to support the creation of portable cloud-native Java microservices that start almost instantly and use fewer resources.

Oracle is also introducing features to streamline cloud native deployments, Kubernetes operations, and security. Oracle Cloud Guard Container Governance allows developers to enhance security for Oracle Container Engine for Kubernetes (OKE) using predefined policies. The possibility of Arm Support for all Runtimes will help developers leverage lower-cost CPUs for all runtimes, which can result in substantial cost savings and improved performance.

Oracle's new generative AI capabilities for application development are powered by NVIDIA GPUs, promising security, privacy, and predictable performance. Developers will be able to tune the foundational models and host them in Oracle's AI infrastructure, exposing them via endpoints. This will allow developers to embed generative AI in their applications. These models can be used for test generation, code translation, code generation, code refactoring, and code summarisation.

"At Cohere, we are building generative AI models that will act as an extension of the developer, allowing them to maintain their unique coding styles while helping them develop more efficient code," said Saurabh Baji, senior vice president, engineering, Cohere. He added that they are excited to work with OCI on foundational models addressing a wide range of developer use-cases.

Java 21, Arm support for all runtimes, and Graal Cloud Native 4.0 are available now. OCI Functions Powered by GraalOS and Oracle Cloud Guard Container Governance will be available soon.