Oracle Corporation (NYSE:ORCL) has moved to quell speculation that it was abandoning Solaris Unix and stated that it is instead adopting a continuous delivery model for the operating system. Speculation that Solaris would be discontinued started after Oracle announced the laying off of about 1,800 employees, a majority of whom had been working on Solaris Unix and SPARC.

Non-disruptive upgrades

With the continuous delivery model, there will be more frequent updates which will ensure that users have the latest features. There will be no disruptive releases as was the case in the past or as is the case with some of its industry rivals. This will ensure smooth transitions for customers. The continuous delivery model will be based on Oracle Solaris 11.

“New features and functionality will be delivered in Oracle Solaris through dot releases instead of more disruptive major releases … This addresses customer requirements for an agile and smooth transition path between versions while providing ongoing innovation with assured investment protection,” wrote Oracle on the company blog.

Premier support, as well as extended support for Oracle Solaris 11, will be offered for about two more decades. Support for Oracle Solaris 11 on SPARC Model 300 Infrastructure-as-a-service cloud will continue.

Cloud strategy

Customers will find it reassuring as fears had been growing recently that Solaris would be nixed. This arose mostly from the fact that Oracle had made its cloud business its number one priority. The strategy has been paying off as revenues from its cloud business have been on the rise while those of its hardware business have been falling. Adding to the fears was the fact that the Solaris operating system, for instance, had never turned a profit from the moment it was added to Oracle’s portfolio. Another fact that didn’t make matters any better was that Oracle had abandoned plans for the next major release of Oracle Solaris which would have been the Solaris 12.

The layoffs which affected Oracle’s Santa Clara facility also added to the fears since they were mostly concentrated on the Sun Microsystems products (including Solaris) that Oracle had acquired in 2010 for $7.4 billion.

On Tuesday Oracle Corporation rose by 1.06 percent to close the day at $40.10 a share.