The feud between Oracle and Hewlett-Packard over Mark Hurd’s employment status already has plenty of drama. Now, let’s toss Michael Dell into the mix. As the Oracle-HP relationship shows signs of strain, Michael Dell is confirmed to speak at Oracle OpenWorld, the major gathering of Oracle partners and customers. Will Dell emerge as Oracle’s most favorite third-party server partner? Here are some clues.

First, the back story: Anyone with an Internet connection should know former HP CEO Mark Hurd has joined Oracle as co-president, a move that triggered a war of words between HP and Oracle.

Act II At Oracle OpenWorld

But the drama doesn’t end there. The massive Oracle OpenWorld conference is set to run Sept. 19-23 in San Francisco.

And the confirmed keynote speaker list should offer plenty of fireworks. The lineup includes:

Oracle’s Hardware Balancing Act

From CEO Larry Ellison to Channel Chief Judson Althoff, Oracle has clearly communicated its business strategy going forward: Oracle software will run best on Oracle’s Sun hardware.

Of course, Oracle’s software continues to support Unix, Linux and Windows across IBM, HP, Cisco, Dell and other third-party hardware. But if you look closely at the competitive landscape, Dell could emerge as Oracle’s closest third-party server partner.

Why’s that?

Still, The VAR Guy also is closely watching the Oracle-Cisco relationship, where there’s talk about a closer working relationship involving virtualization and the Cisco Unified Computing Systems (UCS).

Dramatic Timing

Looking ahead, Oracle OpenWorld should deliver plenty of drama for Oracle, HP… and even Dell.

After all, Michael Dell has been dealing with personal and professional drama for several weeks. Dell (the company) in July 2010 paid the SEC $100 million to settle accounting fraud charges. The PC giant didn’t admit any wrongdoing, nor did Michael Dell, who paid a $4 million penalty for failing to disclose a secret financial arrangement involving Intel payments to Dell. A large number of Dell shareholders questioned Michael Dell’s leadership in August 2010.

At OpenWorld, Dell will have the opportunity to prove his company is more than a PC supplier with an efficient supply chain. If Michael plays his cards right, he could establish Dell as Oracle’s preferred third-party server partner.

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