Panda SecuritySkip it. Upgrade from 19c directly to 23ai. 3. Oracle Database 23ai – The Future (Formerly 23c) Released: General availability May 2024 Support model: Long Term Release (yes, confirmed by Oracle)
21c was an innovation release that very few customers adopted. Its key features (native blockchain tables, JSON data type improvements, in-database JavaScript) were absorbed into 23c/23ai.
19c is the last release of the 12.2 code line (12.2 → 18c → 19c). It is the most stable, most deployed Oracle version in production today. If you are running 11g or 12c, 19c is your safe, low-risk upgrade target.
If you’ve worked with Oracle Database for more than a few years, you remember the old days: a major release every 4–5 years, a few patchsets, and a clear "end of life" you could mark on a calendar.
That world is gone.
| Family | Philosophy | Typical Customer | |--------|------------|------------------| | | Stable, supported for 8+ years | Enterprises, regulated industries, core OLTP | | Innovation Release | New features, shorter support (2 years) | Dev teams, data warehouses, early adopters |
