It's no exaggeration to say that the COVID-19 pandemic has completely upended the way people everywhere work, eat, and socialize. Stay-at-home mandates and suspension of large public gatherings have changed everything.
But Zoom, with Oracle as a new cloud partner, has made it much easier for people to continue taking part in common daily activities—from attending business meetings and school classes to practicing yoga—and yes, cocktailing—in the face of this threat, where social distancing is key. In some venues, Zoom is even being used to try civil and criminal cases.
In April, Zoom's daily tally of meeting participants mushroomed to 300 million, up 50% from 200 million the previous month. One reason for that growth spurt was that the company, founded in 2011 with a focus on business users, was scaling up to support educators and students with a free tier of its service.
As the pandemic spread, Zoom also decided to eliminate the 40-minute limit for K-12 schools. All of that meant the San Jose-based company needed to boost its cloud capacity to support the additional flood of videoconferences. And that's why it got in touch with Oracle, which was quickly on board in this effort.
Oracle's engineering team worked quickly, deploying Zoom on Oracle Cloud Infrastructure and ensuring Zoom had enough cloud capacity to serve the hundreds of thousands of new users flocking to its service. And when that flood turned into millions of additional students, teachers, and others, Zoom was able to easily scale up its capacity further to meet that need.
Helping Zoom meet the soaring demand also demonstrates the robustness and reliability of Oracle's second-generation cloud, which was built to handle the tough demands of video communications and other broadcasting applications smoothly.
While Zoom's services were already proven in business settings when COVID-19 hit, it was clear that its easy-to-use video communications could also make life easier for non-business users, including parents now pulling double and triple duty as teachers, coaches, and nurses—all while maintaining their professional lives. Far flung family members can also visit each other using Zoom while following recommended social distancing guidelines.
In the process, the company's name has morphed into both a noun and a verb. Phrases like "Do you want to Zoom?" have entered the vernacular both in work and social settings. Zoom has even facilitated wakes and weddings.
Given all this, it's safe to say that Zoom's high-quality video communications service is helping hundreds of millions of people—many of whom are confined to their homes—feel a little less alone, a little more connected to one another. And, Oracle with its modern Oracle Cloud Infrastructure, is thrilled to help make that happen.
