Oracle Database Version upgrade (26ai) Services

Modernize legacy Oracle environments to Oracle Database 26ai to unlock built-in AI capabilities.

Speak with an Oracle Database Consultant today ->

Eliminate system downtime risks.

Execute a tested migration plan engineered by our industry leaders and globally awarded Oracle ACEs, to guarantee near-zero business disruption and zero data loss. Maintain continuous operational availability throughout complex, cross-generation database upgrades.

Eliminate downtime risks →

Maximize support roadmap runway.

Upgrade legacy environments directly to Oracle Database 26ai to secure five years of Premier Support and three additional years of Extended Support. Skip short-lived interim innovation releases to eliminate out-of-support penalties and.

Slash support fees →

Unlock native AI capabilities without data movement.

Deploy native VECTOR data types and AI Vector Search directly inside the database engine to run semantic queries, similarity searches, and retrieval-augmented generation (RAG). Maintain enterprise security controls without external data exports.

Unlock AI capabilities →

How it works

Evaluate environment dependencies to resolve migration roadblocks up front.

Evaluate schema complexity, custom code, database sizing, and third-party dependencies in your current Oracle 11g, 12c, 19c or 21c, CDB or non-CDB setup. Identify potential execution factors up front to ensure a clear migration scope and resolve compatibility hurdles before writing any production code.

Discover your migration path

Design a tailored upgrade architecture to fit your operational window.

Select the optimal migration technology—including Oracle GoldenGate, Data Guard, Transportable Tablespaces, or AutoUpgrade—to satisfy strict Recovery Time Objectives (RTO) while guaranteeing zero data loss to meet critical Recovery Point Objective (RPO) demands. Every blueprint incorporates verified fallback and rollback procedures to protect continuous business operations.

Design your upgrade strategy

Test query execution plans in staging to prevent performance regression.

Execute trial upgrades in a staging environment using Pythian's custom performance capture tools, SQL Plan Management (SPM) and Real Application Testing (RAT), when available. Benchmarking workloads under real-world simulation ensures execution stability and prevents query latency issues post-cutover.

Schedule a performance benchmark

Complete live cutover steps with zero data loss.

Senior Database Engineers lead the live cutover during your designated maintenance window, executing database conversions, replication catch-up, and application reconnects. Immediate health checks validate total data integrity and operational stability before full release.

Execute your cutover plan

Fine-tune system memory and empower internal teams with operational knowledge.

Establish an intensive hypercare support team to rapidly react to any post-migration issues. Maintain fast query performance by adjusting database memory allocation, index structures, and native AI Vector Search configurations based on real-time post-upgrade metrics. Secure seamless, long-term operational control through hands-on knowledge transfer delivered directly to your internal team.

Meet with our Oracle Consultants

Evaluate environment dependencies to resolve migration roadblocks up front.

Evaluate schema complexity, custom code, database sizing, and third-party dependencies in your current Oracle 11g, 12c, 19c or 21c, CDB or non-CDB setup. Identify potential execution factors up front to ensure a clear migration scope and resolve compatibility hurdles before writing any production code.

Discover your migration path

Design a tailored upgrade architecture to fit your operational window.

Select the optimal migration technology—including Oracle GoldenGate, Data Guard, Transportable Tablespaces, or AutoUpgrade—to satisfy strict Recovery Time Objectives (RTO) while guaranteeing zero data loss to meet critical Recovery Point Objective (RPO) demands. Every blueprint incorporates verified fallback and rollback procedures to protect continuous business operations.

Design your upgrade strategy

Test query execution plans in staging to prevent performance regression.

Execute trial upgrades in a staging environment using Pythian's custom performance capture tools, SQL Plan Management (SPM) and Real Application Testing (RAT), when available. Benchmarking workloads under real-world simulation ensures execution stability and prevents query latency issues post-cutover.

Schedule a performance benchmark

Complete live cutover steps with zero data loss.

Senior Database Engineers lead the live cutover during your designated maintenance window, executing database conversions, replication catch-up, and application reconnects. Immediate health checks validate total data integrity and operational stability before full release.

Execute your cutover plan

Fine-tune system memory and empower internal teams with operational knowledge.

Establish an intensive hypercare support team to rapidly react to any post-migration issues. Maintain fast query performance by adjusting database memory allocation, index structures, and native AI Vector Search configurations based on real-time post-upgrade metrics. Secure seamless, long-term operational control through hands-on knowledge transfer delivered directly to your internal team.

Meet with our Oracle Consultants

Accelerate database performance and eliminate extended support risks.

Speak with an Oracle Database Consultant today →

Frequently asked questions (FAQ) about Oracle Database Version Upgrade(26ai) Services

Legacy releases like Oracle 11g and 12c have passed Premier and Extended Support, forcing organizations into Sustaining Support with heavy fee surcharges. Other long-term releases like 19c lack native artificial intelligence features. Oracle Database 26ai provides five years of Premier Support and three years of additional Extended Support. Upgrading guarantees continuous security patching, optimizes hardware utilization, eliminates costly extended support surcharges, and aligns on-premises environments with modern cloud migration paths.

Oracle Database 26ai introduces native VECTOR data types and indexes and AI Vector Search, enabling semantic queries with SELECT AI for natural language to SQL (NL2SQL), similarity searches, retrieval-augmented generation (RAG), Synthetic Data Generation (SDG) and AI agents directly inside the database. Running AI workloads directly where data resides eliminates external vector database licensing fees, lowers query latency, reduces architectural complexity, and ensures AI embeddings automatically inherit enterprise-grade database security, encryption, and compliance controls.

We leverage advanced migration methodologies—including Oracle GoldenGate, Data Guard, Transportable Tablespaces, and zero-downtime cutover techniques—tailored to your specific Recovery Time Objective (RTO). By running comprehensive dry runs in staging environments and fine-tuning execution scripts beforehand, Pythian reduces production cutover windows to hours or sub-minute maintenance windows, scheduled entirely around your operational schedule.

Direct upgrades to 26ai are natively supported from Oracle 19c. Migrating directly from older legacy releases (such as 11.2.0.4, 12.1.0.2, or 12.2.0.1) typically requires an intermediate upgrade step or an out-of-place migration strategy using tools like Data Pump or Oracle GoldenGate. Our certified Oracle Database Consultants and globally awarded Oracle ACEs evaluate your source architecture during technical discovery to map out the shortest, safest path.

SQL execution plans can shift when migrating across database generations due to changes in the optimizer. Pythian mitigates this risk by using Real Application Testing (RAT), SQL Plan Management (SPM), and custom workload simulations prior to go-live. We capture baseline performance metrics in your source environment and lock optimized execution plans into 26ai before turning on production traffic.

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