NTT DOCOMO BUSINESS has moved its shared internal Oracle database platform from on-premises infrastructure to Oracle Autonomous AI Database on Oracle Cloud Infrastructure (OCI), cutting database license costs by 43% while automating routine administration and strengthening disaster recovery across Japan.
NTT DOCOMO BUSINESS Moves Core Database Operations to OCI
NTT DOCOMO BUSINESS, formerly NTT Communications Corporation, is shifting a critical piece of its enterprise IT infrastructure to the cloud as database modernization becomes increasingly tied to automation, security and AI readiness.
The Japanese ICT provider has migrated tens of terabytes of data from an on-premises environment to Oracle Autonomous AI Database on Oracle Cloud Infrastructure (OCI). According to Oracle and NTT DOCOMO BUSINESS, the move has reduced database license costs by 43% compared with the company’s previous environment.
The platform supports 12 critical internal systems connected to roughly 400 servers, including systems used for network management, security and service operations. Maintaining that infrastructure on premises had become increasingly complex and resource-intensive, prompting the company to look for a way to reduce operational overhead without compromising the requirements of business-critical applications.
The migration illustrates a broader shift in enterprise database infrastructure: organizations are increasingly moving away from managing database hardware and routine maintenance themselves and toward managed cloud platforms that automate more of the database lifecycle.
Automation Becomes Part of the Database Infrastructure
A central component of Oracle Autonomous AI Database is automation. Oracle says the service can handle provisioning, backups, patching, upgrades, scaling and other routine database-management tasks without requiring conventional database administration for those activities.
For NTT DOCOMO BUSINESS, that translates into less manual work around patching, backups and routine maintenance. The company says the automation has reduced administrative effort and helped its operations team focus on data utilization and broader business-improvement initiatives.
Security is another important part of the migration. Oracle’s documentation says Autonomous AI Database automatically applies security patches and updates, while data is encrypted at rest and in transit. The platform also includes capabilities such as auditing, access controls and Oracle Data Safe integration.
That matters for an environment supporting network and security operations, where database availability and protection are closely connected to the systems running on top of it.
NTT DOCOMO BUSINESS has also established a disaster-recovery architecture spanning two Oracle Cloud regions in Japan. The configuration is intended to improve resilience and accelerate recovery when disruptions affect production operations.
Cloud Databases Are Becoming the Enterprise Default
The move comes as the database market continues shifting toward cloud-based consumption models. Gartner reported that the worldwide database management systems market reached $119.7 billion in 2024, up 13.4%, with cloud database platform-as-a-service accounting for 64% of the market’s gain during the year.
Gartner also forecasts worldwide end-user spending on database management systems to grow at a 15.9% compound annual growth rate from 2024 through 2029, reaching $255 billion. The research firm identifies cloud and analytics implementations as major drivers.
For enterprise IT teams, the attraction is not simply moving databases out of a data center. Managed database services can shift responsibility for infrastructure maintenance, scaling and portions of security operations to the cloud provider, potentially allowing internal teams to spend more time on applications and data-driven initiatives.
The competitive landscape includes Oracle, Microsoft, Amazon Web Services, Google, IBM, Snowflake, Databricks and other database and cloud infrastructure providers. Gartner’s 2025 analysis of cloud database management systems highlights generative AI, real-time processing and new interactions between database platforms and broader data-management technologies as important market developments.
Database Modernization Meets Enterprise AI
The AI component of NTT DOCOMO BUSINESS’s migration is less about deploying a new AI application today and more about preparing the underlying data infrastructure for future AI workloads.
The company says it expects to use Oracle Autonomous AI Database to extract more value from its data and adopt emerging technologies, including AI, to improve operational efficiency and service quality.
That direction aligns with Oracle’s broader expansion of AI capabilities within its database platform. Oracle announced agentic AI capabilities for its database technology in 2026, including vector search, integrations designed to allow AI agents to securely access database information, and support for building agentic applications around enterprise data.
This convergence is becoming increasingly important as enterprises move from experimenting with generative AI toward connecting AI systems with operational data. Databases are no longer simply repositories for applications; they are increasingly becoming part of the infrastructure required to deliver retrieval, analytics and AI-powered business applications.
For NTT DOCOMO BUSINESS, the immediate result is more concrete: lower reported database licensing costs, automated maintenance and a multi-region disaster-recovery setup. The longer-term objective is to create a database environment that can support greater use of enterprise data and AI without adding the same level of manual infrastructure management.
The migration therefore represents a familiar but increasingly important enterprise technology pattern: modernizing the database layer first, while creating the infrastructure foundation for the next generation of AI-enabled applications.
Market Landscape
Enterprise database infrastructure is moving toward cloud consumption, automation and AI-integrated data services. Gartner says the DBMS market grew 13.4% in 2024 to $119.7 billion, while cloud DBaaS captured the majority of market growth. At the same time, database vendors are adding vector search, AI-agent connectivity and automated administration as enterprises connect operational data to generative and agentic AI workloads.
Top Insights
- NTT DOCOMO BUSINESS reports a 43% reduction in database license costs after migrating tens of terabytes of data from on-premises infrastructure to OCI.
- The shared database platform supports 12 critical internal systems connected to approximately 400 servers across network, security and service operations.
- Autonomous database automation reduces manual work associated with patching, backups and routine maintenance while supporting continuously updated security controls.
- Two Oracle Cloud regions in Japan provide the foundation for disaster recovery and improved resilience across critical internal database workloads.
- The migration also positions enterprise data infrastructure for broader adoption of AI, analytics and emerging agentic AI applications.
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