Oracle Corporation
Encyclopedia
Oracle Corporation is an American multinational
computer technology corporation that specializes in developing and marketing hardware systems and enterprise software
products – particularly database management system
s. Headquartered in 500 Oracle Parkway, Redwood Shores
, Redwood City
, California, United States and employing approximately 108,000 people worldwide , it has enlarged its share of the software market through organic growth
and through a number of high-profile acquisitions. By 2007 Oracle had the third-largest software revenue, after Microsoft
and IBM
.
The company also builds tools for database
development and systems of middle-tier software, enterprise resource planning
software (ERP), customer relationship management
software (CRM) and supply chain management
(SCM) software.
Larry Ellison
, a co-founder of Oracle Corporation, has served as Oracle's CEO throughout its history. He also served as the Chairman of the Board
until his replacement by Jeffrey O. Henley
in 2004. On August 22, 2008 the Associated Press
ranked Ellison as the top-paid chief executive in the world.
on relational database management systems (RDBMS
) named "A Relational Model of Data for Large Shared Data Banks."
He had heard about the IBM System R database from an article in the IBM Research Journal provided by Ed Oates
(a future co-founder of Oracle Corporation). System R also derived from Codd's theories, and Ellison wanted to make Oracle's product compatible with System R, but IBM stopped this by keeping the error codes for their DBMS secret. Ellison co-founded Oracle Corporation in 1977 with Bob Miner
and Ed Oates
under the name Software Development Laboratories (SDL). In 1979 SDL changed its name to Relational Software, Inc. (RSI). In 1982, RSI renamed itself Oracle Systems to align itself more closely with its flagship product Oracle Database
. At this stage Bob Miner
served as the company's senior programmer. In 1995, Oracle Systems Corporation changed its name to Oracle Corporation.
Part of Oracle Corporation's early success arose from using the C programming language
to implement its products. This eased porting to different operating systems (most of which support C). This gave Oracle Corporation an advantage over companies using operating-system-specific languages. Oracle Corporation programmers wrote the first C compiler for the IBM
mainframe platform in order to port to that platform.
In 2004 Oracle Corporation shipped release 10g (g standing for "grid") as the then latest version of Oracle Database
. (Oracle Application Server
10g using Java EE integrates with the server part of that version of the database, making it possible to deploy web
-technology applications. The application server comprises the first middle-tier software designed for grid computing
. The interrelationship between Oracle 10g and Java
allows developers to set up stored procedure
s written in the Java language, as well as those written in the traditional Oracle database programming language, PL/SQL
.) -
Release 11g became the current Oracle Database version in 2007.
s (DBAs) use Oracle Enterprise Manager
(OEM) to manage the DBMS. With Oracle Database version 10g, Oracle Corporation introduced a web-based rewrite of OEM called Oracle Enterprise Manager Database Control. Oracle Corporation has dubbed the super Enterprise Manager used to manage a grid of multiple DBMS and Application Servers as Oracle Enterprise Manager Grid Control.
offering, gives users the ability to search for content across multiple locations, including websites, file servers, content management systems, enterprise resource planning systems, customer relationship management
systems, business intelligence
systems, and databases.
collaboration software provides team workspaces (including wikis, team calendaring and file sharing), email, calendar, instant messaging, and conferencing on a single platform. Customers can use Beehive as licensed software or as software as a service
.
(OCS) contains messaging, groupware and collaboration applications. Oracle Beehive
has superseded OCS.
Many external and third-party tools make the Oracle database administrator
's tasks easier.
) -related functions (Oracle HR). Users can access these facilities through a browser interface over the Internet or via a corporate intranet.
Following a number of high-value acquisitions beginning in 2003, especially in the area of applications, Oracle Corporation maintains a number of product lines:
Development of applications commonly takes place in Java (using Oracle JDeveloper) or through PL/SQL (using, for example, Oracle Forms
and Oracle Reports
). Oracle Corporation has started a drive toward "wizard"-driven environments with a view to enabling non-programmers to produce simple data-driven applications.
The variety of applications from third-party vendors includes database
applications for archiving, splitting and control, ERP and CRM systems, as well as more niche and focused products providing a range of commercial functions in the areas of human resources, financial control and governance, risk management, and compliance
(GRC).
Vendors include:
lawsuits arising from its having overstated its earnings. Ellison stated in 1992 that Oracle had made "an incredible business mistake."
, Oracle, and Informix (and eventually Microsoft) to dominate mid-range and microcomputers.
Around this time, Oracle technology started to lag technically behind that of Sybase
. In 1990–1993 Sybase became the fastest-growing database company and the database industry's darling vendor, but soon fell victim to its merger mania and to technical issues with System X. Sybase's 1993 merger with PowerSoft resulted in its losing its focus on its core database technology. In 1993, Sybase sold the rights to its database software running under the Windows operating system to Microsoft Corporation, which markets it under the name "SQL Server."
In 1994, Informix
Software overtook Sybase and became Oracle's most important rival. The intense war between Informix CEO Phil White and Ellison made front-page news in Silicon Valley
for three years. Informix claimed that Oracle had hired away Informix engineers to disclose important trade secrets about an upcoming product. Informix finally dropped its lawsuit against Oracle in 1997. In November 2005 a book detailing the war between Oracle and Informix appeared,
providing a detailed chronology of the battle of Informix against Oracle, and how Informix Software's CEO Phil White landed in jail because of his obsession with overtaking Ellison.
Once it had overcome Informix and Sybase, Oracle Corporation enjoyed years of dominance in the database market until use of Microsoft SQL Server
became widespread in the late 1990s and IBM acquired Informix Software in 2000 (to complement its DB2 database). Oracle competes for new database licenses on UNIX, Linux, and Windows operating systems primarily against IBM's DB2 and Microsoft SQL Server (which only runs on Windows). IBM's DB2 dominates the mainframe database market.
In 2004 Oracle's sales grew at a rate of 14.5% to $6.2 billion, giving it 41.3% and the top share of the relational-database market (InformationWeek – March, 2005), with market share estimated at up to 44.6% in 2005 by some sources.
Oracle Corporation's main competitors in the database arena remain IBM DB2
and Microsoft SQL Server
, and to a lesser extent Sybase
and Teradata
, with open-source databases such as PostgreSQL
and MySQL
also having a significant share of the market. EnterpriseDB
, based on PostgreSQL, has made inroads by proclaiming that its product delivers Oracle compatibility features at a much lower price-point.
In the software-applications market, Oracle Corporation primarily competes against SAP
. On March 22, 2007 Oracle sued SAP, accusing them of fraud and unfair competition.
In the market for business intelligence
software, many other software companies – small and large – have successfully competed in quality with Oracle and SAP products. Business intelligence vendors can be categorized into the "big four" consolidated BI firms such as Oracle, who has entered BI market through a recent trend of acquisitions (including Hyperion Solutions
), and the independent "pure play" vendors such as MicroStrategy
, Actuate, and SAS.
had a decade-long history of cooperation, beginning with the integration of SAP's R/3
enterprise application suite with Oracle's relational database products. The marketplace regarded the two firms' products as complementing one another, rather than as substitutes. Despite the current SAP partnership with Microsoft, and the increasing integration of SAP applications with Microsoft products (such as Microsoft SQL Server
, a competitor to Oracle Database), Oracle and SAP continue their cooperation. According to Oracle Corporation, the majority of SAP's customers use Oracle databases.
In years, however, competition between Oracle and SAP has increased, and as a result, the rivalry between the two companies has grown, even developing into a feud between the co-founders of the two companies, where one party would frequently voice strong negative comments about the other company.
In 2004 Oracle began to increase its interest in the enterprise-applications market (in 1989, Oracle had already released Oracle Financials). A series of acquisitions by Oracle Corporation began, most notably those of PeopleSoft
, Siebel Systems
and Hyperion
.
SAP recognized that Oracle had started to become a competitor in a market where SAP had the leadership
, and saw an opportunity to lure in customers from those companies that Oracle Corporation had acquired. SAP would offer those customers special discounts on the licenses for its enterprise applications.
Oracle Corporation would resort to a similar strategy, by advising SAP customers to get "OFF SAP" (a play on the words of the acronym for its middleware platform "Oracle Fusion for SAP"),
and also by providing special discounts on licenses and services to SAP customers who chose Oracle Corporation products.
Oracle and SAP (the latter through its recently acquired subsidiary TomorrowNow
) compete in the third-party enterprise software maintenance and support market. On March 22, 2007, Oracle filed a lawsuit against SAP. In Oracle Corporation v. SAP AG
Oracle alleged that TomorrowNow, which provides discount support for legacy Oracle product lines, used the accounts of former Oracle customers to systematically download patches and support documents from Oracle's website and to appropriate them for SAP's use.
Some analysts have suggested the suit could form part of a strategy by Oracle Corporation to decrease competition with SAP in the market for third-party enterprise software maintenance and support.
On July 3, 2007, SAP admitted that TomorrowNow employees had made "inappropriate downloads" from the Oracle support web site. However, it claims that SAP personnel and SAP customers had no access to Oracle intellectual property via TomorrowNow. SAP's CEO Henning Kagermann
stated that "Even a single inappropriate download is unacceptable from my perspective. We regret very much that this occurred." Additionally, SAP announced that it had "instituted changes" in TomorrowNow's operational oversight.
On November 23, 2010 a U.S. district court
jury in Oakland California found that SAP AG must pay Oracle Corp $1.3 billion for copyright infringement, awarding damages that could be the largest-ever for copyright infringement. While admitting liability, SAP estimated the damages at no more than $40 million, while Oracle claimed that they are at least $1.65 billion. The awarded amount is one of the 10 or 20 largest jury verdicts in U.S. legal history. SAP said they were disappointed by the verdict and might appeal. On September 1, 2011, a federal judge overturned the judgment and granted SAP a new trial, calling Oracle's original award "grossly" excessive.
and the press after hiring private investigator
s to dig through the trash of organizations involved in an antitrust trial involving Microsoft
.
The Chairman of Oracle Corporation, Larry Ellison, staunchly defended his company's hiring of an East Coast detective agency to investigate groups that supported rival Microsoft Corporation during its antitrust trial, calling the snooping a "public service." The investigation reportedly included a $1,200 offer to janitors at the Association for Competitive Technology
to look through Microsoft's trash. Asked how he'd feel if others were looking into Oracle's business activities, Ellison said: "We will ship our garbage to Redmond, and they can go through it. We believe in full disclosure."
. Oracle Corporation also stresses the reliability of networked databases and network access to databases as major selling points.
However, two weeks after its introduction in 2002, David Litchfield
, Alexander Kornbrust
, Cesar Cerrudo and others demonstrated a whole suite of successful attacks against Oracle products.
Commentators criticized the slogan as unrealistic and as an invitation to crackers, but Oracle Corporation's chief security officer Mary Ann Davidson
portrayed the criticism as unfair. Rather than representing a literal claim of Oracle's products' impregnability, she saw the campaign in the context of fourteen independent security evaluations
that Oracle Corporation's database server had passed.
John Ashcroft
sued Oracle Corporation to prevent them acquiring a multi-billion dollar intelligence contract. After Ashcroft's resignation from government, he founded a lobbying firm, The Ashcroft Group, which Oracle hired in 2005. With the group's help, Oracle went on to acquire the contract.
– valued at more than $7 billion – a move that transformed Oracle from solely a software company to a manufacturer of both software and hardware. The acquisition was delayed for several months by the EU Commission because of concerns about MySQL
, however was unconditionally approved in the end. This acquisition was important to some in the open source community and also to some other companies, as they feared Oracle might end Sun's traditional support of open source
projects. Since the acquisition, Oracle has discontinued OpenSolaris
and sued Google
over their newly acquired Java
patents from Sun. In September 2011 a Wikileaks
cable was published revealing that the U.S. pressured the E.U. to allow Oracle to acquire Sun.
filed suit against Oracle Corporation alleging fraud. The lawsuit argues that the government received deals inferior to those Oracle gave to its commercial clients. The DoJ added its heft to an already existing whistleblower lawsuit filed by Paul Frascella, who was once senior director of contract services at Oracle.
concerning patent and copyright infringement of Java
in Google's development of Android. Oracle claims that "Google’s Android competes with Oracle America’s Java" and that "Google has been aware of Sun’s patent portfolio ... since Google hired certain former Sun Java engineers." Oracle acquired the Java patents when it bought Sun Microsystems
in January 2010. Google's reimplementation of the Java platform supports most Java functionality, apart from AWT
and Swing
, instead supplying a native widget toolkit
. This may have been a violation of conditions under which Sun granted OpenJDK
patents to use open source Java. Oracle originally sought damages up to $6.1 billion, but this valuation was rejected by a federal judge who asked Oracle to revise the estimate. The lawsuit is said to potentially have "far-reaching ramifications". The trial was scheduled to start on October 31, 2011.
As of now, the trial for this case has been delayed indefinitely, pending on the schedule of District Court Judge William Alsup or the shift of the case to another judge.
operating system project and community. With Oracle planning to develop Solaris only in a closed source fashion, OpenSolaris developers moved to the Illumos
and OpenIndiana
project, among others.
. and will continue to be developed and supported by ForgeRock.
CEO Mark Hurd is replacing Charles Phillips as Oracle Co-President. Apparently Phillips had wanted to leave Oracle since December 2009. "Oracle is clearly capitalizing on this opportunity to get someone strong from a top hardware company," said Forrester analyst James Staten. "In terms of how this helps Oracle against IBM, there is reason to be optimistic."
On September 7, 2010, HP announced a civil lawsuit against Hurd "to protect HP's trade secrets." On September 20, Oracle and HP published a joint press release announcing the resolution of the lawsuit on confidential terms and reaffirming commitment to long-term strategic partnership between the companies.
and had received backing by Google, Novell, Red Hat, and Canonical, as well as some others, but were unable to get Oracle to donate the brand OpenOffice.org, causing a fork in the development of OpenOffice with the foundation now developing and promoting LibreOffice
. Oracle has expressed no interest in sponsoring the new project and has asked the OpenOffice developers that have started the project to resign from the company due to "conflicts of interest." On November 1, 2010, 33 of the OpenOffice developers gave their letters of resignation. On June 1, 2011, Oracle donated OpenOffice to Apache Software Foundation
.
's Leo Apotheker was about to be hired as HP's new CEO, any support for HP's Itanium servers would not have been implied.
in the Redwood Shores
area of Redwood City
, adjacent to Belmont
, near San Carlos Airport
(IATA airport code
: SQL).
Oracle HQ stands on the former site of Marine World Africa USA
, which moved from Redwood Shores to Vallejo
in 1986. Oracle Corporation originally leased two buildings on the site, moving its finance and administration departments from the corporation's former headquarters on Davis Drive, Belmont
, California. Eventually, Oracle purchased the complex and constructed a further four main buildings.
The distinctive Oracle Parkway buildings, nicknamed the Emerald City, were used as the futuristic headquarters of the fictional company "NorthAm Robotics" in the Robin Williams
film Bicentennial Man
(1999).
and the Oracle Corporation announced a 10-year agreement in which the Oakland Arena would become known as the Oracle Arena.
Larry Ellison's sailing team competes as Oracle Racing.
Sean Tucker's
"Challenger II" stunt biplane performs frequently at air shows around the US.
Multinational corporation
A multi national corporation or enterprise , is a corporation or an enterprise that manages production or delivers services in more than one country. It can also be referred to as an international corporation...
computer technology corporation that specializes in developing and marketing hardware systems and enterprise software
Enterprise software
Enterprise software, also known as enterprise application software , is software used in organizations, such as in a business or government, contrary to software chosen by individuals...
products – particularly database management system
Database management system
A database management system is a software package with computer programs that control the creation, maintenance, and use of a database. It allows organizations to conveniently develop databases for various applications by database administrators and other specialists. A database is an integrated...
s. Headquartered in 500 Oracle Parkway, Redwood Shores
Redwood Shores, California
Redwood Shores is an affluent waterfront neighborhood located in San Mateo County on the San Francisco Peninsula in California. It is located on the eastern edge of Belmont, but is actually part of incorporated Redwood City....
, Redwood City
Redwood City, California
Redwood City is a California charter city located on the San Francisco Peninsula in Northern California, approximately 27 miles south of San Francisco, and 24 miles north of San Jose. Redwood City's history spans from its earliest inhabitation by the Ohlone people, to its tradition as a port for...
, California, United States and employing approximately 108,000 people worldwide , it has enlarged its share of the software market through organic growth
Organic growth
In finance, organic growth is the process of businesses expansion due to increasing overall customer base, increased output per customer or representative, new sales, or any combination of the above, as opposed to mergers and acquisitions that are examples of inorganic growth. Typically, the...
and through a number of high-profile acquisitions. By 2007 Oracle had the third-largest software revenue, after Microsoft
Microsoft
Microsoft Corporation is an American public multinational corporation headquartered in Redmond, Washington, USA that develops, manufactures, licenses, and supports a wide range of products and services predominantly related to computing through its various product divisions...
and IBM
IBM
International Business Machines Corporation or IBM is an American multinational technology and consulting corporation headquartered in Armonk, New York, United States. IBM manufactures and sells computer hardware and software, and it offers infrastructure, hosting and consulting services in areas...
.
The company also builds tools for database
Database
A database is an organized collection of data for one or more purposes, usually in digital form. The data are typically organized to model relevant aspects of reality , in a way that supports processes requiring this information...
development and systems of middle-tier software, enterprise resource planning
Enterprise resource planning
Enterprise resource planning systems integrate internal and external management information across an entire organization, embracing finance/accounting, manufacturing, sales and service, customer relationship management, etc. ERP systems automate this activity with an integrated software application...
software (ERP), customer relationship management
Customer relationship management
Customer relationship management is a widely implemented strategy for managing a company’s interactions with customers, clients and sales prospects. It involves using technology to organize, automate, and synchronize business processes—principally sales activities, but also those for marketing,...
software (CRM) and supply chain management
Supply chain management
Supply chain management is the management of a network of interconnected businesses involved in the ultimate provision of product and service packages required by end customers...
(SCM) software.
Larry Ellison
Larry Ellison
Lawrence Joseph "Larry" Ellison is the co-founder and chief executive officer of Oracle Corporation, one of the world's leading enterprise software companies. As of 2011, he is the third wealthiest American citizen, with an estimated worth of $33 billion.- Early life :Larry Ellison was born in the...
, a co-founder of Oracle Corporation, has served as Oracle's CEO throughout its history. He also served as the Chairman of the Board
Board of directors
A board of directors is a body of elected or appointed members who jointly oversee the activities of a company or organization. Other names include board of governors, board of managers, board of regents, board of trustees, and board of visitors...
until his replacement by Jeffrey O. Henley
Jeffrey O. Henley
Jeffrey O. Henley is the Chairman of Oracle Corporation. He has held this position since January 2004, prior to which he was the Chief Financial Officer and an Executive Vice President for 13 years from March 1991 to July 2004...
in 2004. On August 22, 2008 the Associated Press
Associated Press
The Associated Press is an American news agency. The AP is a cooperative owned by its contributing newspapers, radio and television stations in the United States, which both contribute stories to the AP and use material written by its staff journalists...
ranked Ellison as the top-paid chief executive in the world.
History
Ellison took inspiration from the 1970 paper written by Edgar F. CoddEdgar F. Codd
Edgar Frank "Ted" Codd was an English computer scientist who, while working for IBM, invented the relational model for database management, the theoretical basis for relational databases...
on relational database management systems (RDBMS
Relational database management system
A relational database management system is a database management system that is based on the relational model as introduced by E. F. Codd. Most popular databases currently in use are based on the relational database model....
) named "A Relational Model of Data for Large Shared Data Banks."
He had heard about the IBM System R database from an article in the IBM Research Journal provided by Ed Oates
Ed Oates
Edward A. "Ed" Oates co-founded Software Development Labs in August 1977 with Larry Ellison, and Bob Miner. Software Development Labs later became Oracle Corporation....
(a future co-founder of Oracle Corporation). System R also derived from Codd's theories, and Ellison wanted to make Oracle's product compatible with System R, but IBM stopped this by keeping the error codes for their DBMS secret. Ellison co-founded Oracle Corporation in 1977 with Bob Miner
Bob Miner
Robert Nimrod "Bob" Miner was a co-founder of Oracle Corporation and architect of Oracle's relational database management system....
and Ed Oates
Ed Oates
Edward A. "Ed" Oates co-founded Software Development Labs in August 1977 with Larry Ellison, and Bob Miner. Software Development Labs later became Oracle Corporation....
under the name Software Development Laboratories (SDL). In 1979 SDL changed its name to Relational Software, Inc. (RSI). In 1982, RSI renamed itself Oracle Systems to align itself more closely with its flagship product Oracle Database
Oracle Database
The Oracle Database is an object-relational database management system produced and marketed by Oracle Corporation....
. At this stage Bob Miner
Bob Miner
Robert Nimrod "Bob" Miner was a co-founder of Oracle Corporation and architect of Oracle's relational database management system....
served as the company's senior programmer. In 1995, Oracle Systems Corporation changed its name to Oracle Corporation.
Part of Oracle Corporation's early success arose from using the C programming language
C (programming language)
C is a general-purpose computer programming language developed between 1969 and 1973 by Dennis Ritchie at the Bell Telephone Laboratories for use with the Unix operating system....
to implement its products. This eased porting to different operating systems (most of which support C). This gave Oracle Corporation an advantage over companies using operating-system-specific languages. Oracle Corporation programmers wrote the first C compiler for the IBM
IBM
International Business Machines Corporation or IBM is an American multinational technology and consulting corporation headquartered in Armonk, New York, United States. IBM manufactures and sells computer hardware and software, and it offers infrastructure, hosting and consulting services in areas...
mainframe platform in order to port to that platform.
Overall timeline
- June 16, 1977: Software Development Laboratories (SDL) is incorporated in Santa ClaraSanta Clara, CaliforniaSanta Clara , founded in 1777 and incorporated in 1852, is a city in Santa Clara County, in the U.S. state of California. The city is the site of the eighth of 21 California missions, Mission Santa Clara de Asís, and was named after the mission. The Mission and Mission Gardens are located on the...
, California by Larry EllisonLarry EllisonLawrence Joseph "Larry" Ellison is the co-founder and chief executive officer of Oracle Corporation, one of the world's leading enterprise software companies. As of 2011, he is the third wealthiest American citizen, with an estimated worth of $33 billion.- Early life :Larry Ellison was born in the...
, Bob MinerBob MinerRobert Nimrod "Bob" Miner was a co-founder of Oracle Corporation and architect of Oracle's relational database management system....
and Ed OatesEd OatesEdward A. "Ed" Oates co-founded Software Development Labs in August 1977 with Larry Ellison, and Bob Miner. Software Development Labs later became Oracle Corporation....
. - 1978: Oracle Version 1, written in assembly language, runs on PDP-11 under RSX, in 128K of memory. Implementation separates Oracle code and user code. Oracle V1 is never officially released. The name Oracle comes from the code name of a CIA project which the founders had all worked on while at the Ampex Corporation.
- June 1979: SDL is renamed to Relational Software Inc. (RSI) and relocated to Sand Hill RoadSand Hill RoadSand Hill Road is a road in Menlo Park, California, notable for its concentration of venture capital companies. Its significance as a symbol of private equity in the United States may be compared to that of Wall Street in the stock market...
, Menlo ParkMenlo Park, CaliforniaMenlo Park, California is a city at the eastern edge of San Mateo County, in the San Francisco Bay Area of California, in the United States. It is bordered by San Francisco Bay on the north and east; East Palo Alto, Palo Alto, and Stanford to the south; Atherton, North Fair Oaks, and Redwood City...
, California. Oracle 2, the first version of the Oracle database software, as purchased by Wright-Patterson Air Force BaseWright-Patterson Air Force BaseWright-Patterson Air Force Base is a United States Air Force base in Greene and Montgomery counties in the state of Ohio. It includes both Wright and Patterson Fields, which were originally Wilbur Wright Field and Fairfield Aviation General Supply Depot. Patterson Field is located approximately...
, runs on PDP-11PDP-11The PDP-11 was a series of 16-bit minicomputers sold by Digital Equipment Corporation from 1970 into the 1990s, one of a succession of products in the PDP series. The PDP-11 replaced the PDP-8 in many real-time applications, although both product lines lived in parallel for more than 10 years...
hardware. The company decides to name the first version of its flagship product "version 2" rather than "version 1" because it believes customers might hesitate to buy the initial release of its product. - October 1979: RSI actively promotes Oracle on the VAXVAXVAX was an instruction set architecture developed by Digital Equipment Corporation in the mid-1970s. A 32-bit complex instruction set computer ISA, it was designed to extend or replace DEC's various Programmed Data Processor ISAs...
platform (the software runs on the VAX in PDP-11 emulator mode). - 1981: Umang GuptaUmang GuptaUmang Gupta is an Indian-American engineer, businessman and millionaire philanthropist.- Career :Umang Gupta is the current Chairman of the Board and Chief Executive Officer of Keynote Systems, Inc. since December 1997. Keynote Systems is a Silicon Valley, California Company that employs 307...
joins RSI, where he writes the first business plan for the company and serves as Vice President and General Manager. - February 1981: RSI begins developing tools for the Oracle Database, including the Interactive Application Facility (IAF), a predecessor to Oracle*Forms.
- 1982: RSI renames itself Oracle Systems Corporation in order to align itself more closely with its primary product.
- March 1983: Oracle Database is rewritten in CC (programming language)C is a general-purpose computer programming language developed between 1969 and 1973 by Dennis Ritchie at the Bell Telephone Laboratories for use with the Unix operating system....
for portability and Oracle version 3 is released. - April 1984: Oracle receives additional funding from Sequoia CapitalSequoia CapitalSequoia Capital is a Californian venture capital firm located on Sand Hill Road in Menlo Park, California. The Wall Street Journal has called Sequoia Capital "one of the highest-caliber venture firms", and noted that it is "one of Silicon Valley's most influential venture-capital firms"...
. - October 1984: Oracle version 4 is released, introducing read consistency.
- November 1984: Oracle database software is ported to the PC platform. The MS-DOSMS-DOSMS-DOS is an operating system for x86-based personal computers. It was the most commonly used member of the DOS family of operating systems, and was the main operating system for IBM PC compatible personal computers during the 1980s to the mid 1990s, until it was gradually superseded by operating...
version (4.1.4) of Oracle runs in only 512K of memory. (Oracle for MSDOS version 5, released in 1986, runs in Protected ModeProtected modeIn computing, protected mode, also called protected virtual address mode, is an operational mode of x86-compatible central processing units...
on 286 machines using a technique invented by Mike Roberts, among the first products to do so.) - April 1985: Oracle version 5 is released – one of the first RDBMSs to operate in client-serverClient-serverThe client–server model of computing is a distributed application that partitions tasks or workloads between the providers of a resource or service, called servers, and service requesters, called clients. Often clients and servers communicate over a computer network on separate hardware, but both...
mode. - 1986: Oracle version 5.1 is released with support for distributed queries. Investigations into clustering begin.
- March 12, 1986: Oracle goes public with revenues of $55 million US$.
- August 1987: Oracle founds its Applications division, building business-management software closely integrated with its database software. Oracle acquires TCI for its project management software.
- 1988: Oracle version 6 is released with support for row-level locking and hot backups. The developers embedded the PL/SQL procedural language engine into the database but made no provision to store program blocks such as procedures and triggers in the database – this capability came in version 7. Users could submit PL/SQL blocks for immediate execution in the server from an environment such as SQL*Plus, or via SQL statements embedded in a host program. Oracle included separate PL/SQL engines in various client tools (such as SQL*Forms and Reports).
- 1989: Oracle moves its world headquarters to Redwood ShoresRedwood Shores, CaliforniaRedwood Shores is an affluent waterfront neighborhood located in San Mateo County on the San Francisco Peninsula in California. It is located on the eastern edge of Belmont, but is actually part of incorporated Redwood City....
, California. Revenues reach US$584 million. - 1990: In the third quarter, Oracle reports its first ever loss; it lays off hundreds of employees. Ellison hires Michael S. Fields as President of Oracle U.S.A., Jeffrey O. HenleyJeffrey O. HenleyJeffrey O. Henley is the Chairman of Oracle Corporation. He has held this position since January 2004, prior to which he was the Chief Financial Officer and an Executive Vice President for 13 years from March 1991 to July 2004...
as CFO and Raymond Lane as COO. - June 1992: Oracle 7 is released with performance enhancements, administrative utilities, application-development tools, security features, the ability to persist PL/SQL program units in the database as stored procedures and triggersDatabase triggerA database trigger is procedural code that is automatically executed in response to certain events on a particular table or view in a database. The trigger is mostly used for keeping the integrity of the information on the database...
, and support for declarative referential integrityReferential integrityReferential integrity is a property of data which, when satisfied, requires every value of one attribute of a relation to exist as a value of another attribute in a different relation ....
. - 1993: Oracle releases its "Cooperative Development Environment" (CDE), which bundles Oracle Forms, Reports, Graphics, and Book.
- 1994: Oracle acquires the database-product DEC Rdb (subsequently called Oracle RdbOracle RdbRdb/VMS is a relational database management system for the Hewlett-Packard OpenVMS operating system. It was originally created by Digital Equipment Corporation in 1984 as part of the VMS Information Architecture, intended to be used for data storage and retrieval by high-level languages and/or...
) from Digital Equipment CorporationDigital Equipment CorporationDigital Equipment Corporation was a major American company in the computer industry and a leading vendor of computer systems, software and peripherals from the 1960s to the 1990s...
(DEC). Oracle Rdb operates only on the OpenVMSOpenVMSOpenVMS , previously known as VAX-11/VMS, VAX/VMS or VMS, is a computer server operating system that runs on VAX, Alpha and Itanium-based families of computers. Contrary to what its name suggests, OpenVMS is not open source software; however, the source listings are available for purchase...
platform (also a former product of DEC). - June 1, 1995: Oracle Systems Corporation announces the merger of Oracle Corporation into Oracle Systems Corporation. This transaction eliminates the holding company structure and streamlines the operating company, Oracle Corporation, with the public holding company, Oracle Systems Corporation. As part of the merger, Oracle Systems Corporation is renamed Oracle Corporation and is the surviving entity incorporated as a Delaware corporation.
- June 21, 1995: Oracle Corporation announces new data-warehousing facilities, including parallel queriesParallel computingParallel computing is a form of computation in which many calculations are carried out simultaneously, operating on the principle that large problems can often be divided into smaller ones, which are then solved concurrently . There are several different forms of parallel computing: bit-level,...
. - November 1995: Oracle becomes one of the first large software companies to announce an Internet strategy when Ellison introduces the Network ComputerNetwork computerNetwork Computer is a trademark of Oracle Corporation that was used, from approximately 1996 to 2000, to market a range of diskless desktop computer devices. The devices were designed and manufactured by an alliance, which included Sun Microsystems, IBM, and others...
concept at an IDC conference in Paris. - 1996: Oracle releases Web BrowserWeb browserA web browser is a software application for retrieving, presenting, and traversing information resources on the World Wide Web. An information resource is identified by a Uniform Resource Identifier and may be a web page, image, video, or other piece of content...
of the Oracle PowerBrowserOracle PowerBrowserOracle PowerBrowser was a web browser created in 1996 by Oracle Corporation. It featured a multiple document interface and offered the possibility to act as a web server allowing users to host webpages on their computers. It pre-dated CSS and scripting, and was quickly discontinued.The original...
. - April 1997: Oracle releases the first version of DiscovererOracle DiscovererOracle Discoverer is a tool-set for ad-hoc querying, reporting, data analysis, and Web-publishing for the Oracle Database environment. Oracle Corporation markets it as a business intelligence product...
. - June 1997: Oracle 8 is released with SQL object technology, Internet technology and support for terabytes of data.
- September 1997: Oracle Corporation announces a commitment to the JavaJava (programming language)Java is a programming language originally developed by James Gosling at Sun Microsystems and released in 1995 as a core component of Sun Microsystems' Java platform. The language derives much of its syntax from C and C++ but has a simpler object model and fewer low-level facilities...
platform, and introduces Oracle's Java integrated development environment, subsequently called Oracle JDeveloperJDeveloperJDeveloper is a freeware IDE supplied by Oracle Corporation. It offers features for development in Java, XML, SQL and PL/SQL, HTML, JavaScript, BPEL and PHP...
. - January 1998: Oracle releases Oracle Applications 10.7 Network Computing Architecture (NCA). All the applications in the business software now run across the web in a standard web browser.
- May 1998: Oracle Corporation releases Oracle Applications 11.
- April 1998: Oracle announces that it will integrate a Java Virtual MachineJava Virtual MachineA Java virtual machine is a virtual machine capable of executing Java bytecode. It is the code execution component of the Java software platform. Sun Microsystems stated that there are over 4.5 billion JVM-enabled devices.-Overview:...
with Oracle Database. - September 1998: Oracle 8i is released (the i stands for Internet).
- October 1998: Oracle 8 and Oracle Application Server 4.0 are released on the LinuxLinuxLinux is a Unix-like computer operating system assembled under the model of free and open source software development and distribution. The defining component of any Linux system is the Linux kernel, an operating system kernel first released October 5, 1991 by Linus Torvalds...
platform. - May 1999: Oracle releases JDeveloper 2.0, showcasing Business Components for Java (BC4J), a set of libraries and development tools for building database-aware applications.
- 2000: OracleMobile subsidiary is founded. Oracle 9i and Application Server is released. In May, Oracle announces the Internet File System (iFS), later re-branded as Oracle Content Management SDK.
- 2001: Ellison announces that Oracle saved $1 billion by implementing and using its own business applications.
- 2004: Oracle 10g is released (the g stands for Grid).
- December 13, 2004: After a long battle over the control of PeopleSoftPeopleSoftPeopleSoft, Inc. was a company that provided Human Resource Management Systems , Financial Management Solutions , Supply Chain and customer relationship management software, as well as software solutions for manufacturing, enterprise performance management, and student administration to large...
, Oracle announces that it has signed an agreement to acquire PeopleSoft for $26.50 per share (approximately $10.3 billion). - January 14, 2005: Oracle Corporation announces that it will reduce its combined workforce to 50,000, a reduction of approximately 5,000 following the take-over of PeopleSoft.
- September 2005: Oracle Corporation announces that it has agreed to acquire the private company Global Logistics Technologies, Inc.G-LogGlobal Logistics Technologies, Inc., more commonly known as G-Log, was a privately held startup company based in King of Prussia, Pennsylvania and Shelton, CT, USA...
, a global provider of logistics and transportation management software (TMS) solutions, through a cash offer. - September 12, 2005: Oracle Corporation announces its purchase of Siebel SystemsSiebel SystemsSiebel CRM Systems, Inc. was a software company principally engaged in the design, development, marketing, and support of customer relationship management applications. The company was founded by Thomas Siebel in 1993. At first known mainly for its sales force automation products, the company...
, a producer of CRM technologies and a provider of business intelligenceBusiness intelligenceBusiness intelligence mainly refers to computer-based techniques used in identifying, extracting, and analyzing business data, such as sales revenue by products and/or departments, or by associated costs and incomes....
software, for $5.8 billion. - October 18, 2005: A serious security vulnerability in Oracle database password management is published by Joshua Wright of the Sans Institute and Carlos Cid of the University of London. Oracle Corporation replies that existing safeguards and following good industry practices were sufficient defenses. Oracle didn't close the underlying security hole until its release of the 11g DBMS in 2007.
- April 12, 2006: Oracle Corporation announces its acquisition of Portal SoftwarePortal SoftwarePortal Software was founded in 1985 as Portal Information Network, one of the first ISPs in the San Francisco Bay Area. It was founded by John Little. The company offered its own interface through modem access that featured Internet email. Towards the end of the 1980s, the company offered...
, Inc. (OTC BB: PRSF.PK), a global provider of billing- and revenue-management solutions for the communications and media industry, at $4.90 per share, or approximately $220 million. - October 25, 2006: Oracle Corporation announces Unbreakable Linux.
- November 2, 2006: Oracle Corporation announces that it has agreed to acquire Stellent, Inc. (NASDAQ: STEL), a global provider of enterprise content management (ECM) software solutions, through a cash tender offer for $13.50 per share, or approximately $440 million.
- December 15, 2006: A majority of MetaSolv stockholders approves Oracle's acquisition of MetaSolv Software, a provider of operations support systems (OSS) software for the communications industry.
- 2007: Oracle 11g is released.
- March 1, 2007: Oracle announces an agreement to buy Hyperion Solutions Corporation (Nasdaq: HYSL), a global provider of performance-management software solutions, through a cash tender offer for $52.00 per share, or approximately $3.3 billion. The acquisition officially took place on July 1, 2007.
- March 22, 2007: Oracle files a court case against a major competitor, SAP AGSAP AGSAP AG is a German software corporation that makes enterprise software to manage business operations and customer relations. Headquartered in Walldorf, Baden-Württemberg, with regional offices around the world, SAP is the market leader in enterprise application software...
, in the Californian courts for malpractice and unfair competition. - October 16, 2007: Oracle confirms the impending departure of John Wookey, senior vice president for application development and head of its applications strategy, raising questions concerning the planned release and future of Oracle's Fusion Applications strategy.
- January 16, 2008: Oracle announces it will buy BEA SystemsBEA SystemsBEA Systems, Inc. specialized in enterprise infrastructure software products known as "middleware", which connect software applications to databases and was acquired by Oracle Corporation on April 29, 2008.- History :...
for $19.375 per share in cash for a total of "$7.2 billion net of cash." - September 24, 2008: Oracle announces it will market servers and storage in a co-developed and co-branded data warehouse appliance named the HP Oracle Database Machine.
- January 27, 2010: Oracle acquires Sun MicrosystemsSun MicrosystemsSun Microsystems, Inc. was a company that sold :computers, computer components, :computer software, and :information technology services. Sun was founded on February 24, 1982...
. - March 17, 2010: Oracle launches Enterprise Manager Ops Center, a platform for managing physical and virtual Sun environments.
- April 16, 2010: Oracle agrees to acquire Phase Forward for approximately $685 million.
- July 5, 2010: Mexico Development Center begins to operate with offices in GuadalajaraGuadalajara, JaliscoGuadalajara is the capital of the Mexican state of Jalisco, and the seat of the municipality of Guadalajara. The city is located in the central region of Jalisco in the western-pacific area of Mexico. With a population of 1,564,514 it is Mexico's second most populous municipality...
, JaliscoJaliscoJalisco officially Estado Libre y Soberano de Jalisco is one of the 31 states which, with the Federal District, comprise the 32 Federal Entities of Mexico. It is located in Western Mexico and divided in 125 municipalities and its capital city is Guadalajara.It is one of the more important states...
, known as the Mexican Sillicon Valley. - July 29, 2010: Oracle is indicted for fraud by the US Department of Justice.
- November 23, 2010: Oracle wins $1.3 billion law suit against SAPSAP AGSAP AG is a German software corporation that makes enterprise software to manage business operations and customer relations. Headquartered in Walldorf, Baden-Württemberg, with regional offices around the world, SAP is the market leader in enterprise application software...
– the largest software piracy judgment in history. While acknowledging the wrongdoings of its unit TomorrowNow, which was accused of massive illegal downloads of Oracle software, SAP seeks reduction of the jury award. - March 24, 2011: Oracle announced fiscal 2011 Q3 GAAP total revenues were up 37% to $8.8 billion, while non-GAAP total revenues were up 36% to $8.8 billion.
- October 2011: Oracle Corporation acquires RightNow TechnologiesRightNow TechnologiesRightNow Technologies is a U.S. software company that develops customer relationship management software for enterprise organizations. It is incorporated in Delaware and headquartered in Bozeman, Montana....
Inc. for $1.5 billion, to strengthen cloud services.
Technology timeline
- 1979: offers the first commercial SQL RDBMS
- 1983: offers a VAX-mode database
- 1984: offers the first database with read-consistency
- 1986: offers a client-server DBMS
- 1987: introduces UNIX-based Oracle applications
- 1988: introduces PL/SQL
- 1992: offers full applications implementation methodology
- 1995: offers the first 64-bit RDBMS
- 1996: moves towards an open standards-based, web-enabled architecture
- 1999: offers its first DBMS with XML support
- 2001: becomes the first to complete 3 terabyte TPC-H world record
- 2002: offers the first database to pass 15 industry standard security evaluations
- 2003: introduces what it calls "Enterprise Grid Computing" with Oracle10g
- 2005: releases its first free database, Oracle Database 10g Express Edition (XE)
- 2008: smart scans in software improve query-response in HP Oracle Database Machine / Exadata storage
Various databases
- Oracle Database
In 2004 Oracle Corporation shipped release 10g (g standing for "grid") as the then latest version of Oracle Database
Oracle Database
The Oracle Database is an object-relational database management system produced and marketed by Oracle Corporation....
. (Oracle Application Server
Oracle Application Server
In computing, the Oracle Application Server 10g , consists of an integrated, standards-based software platform. It forms part of Oracle Corporation's Fusion Middleware technology stack...
10g using Java EE integrates with the server part of that version of the database, making it possible to deploy web
World Wide Web
The World Wide Web is a system of interlinked hypertext documents accessed via the Internet...
-technology applications. The application server comprises the first middle-tier software designed for grid computing
Grid computing
Grid computing is a term referring to the combination of computer resources from multiple administrative domains to reach a common goal. The grid can be thought of as a distributed system with non-interactive workloads that involve a large number of files...
. The interrelationship between Oracle 10g and Java
Java (programming language)
Java is a programming language originally developed by James Gosling at Sun Microsystems and released in 1995 as a core component of Sun Microsystems' Java platform. The language derives much of its syntax from C and C++ but has a simpler object model and fewer low-level facilities...
allows developers to set up stored procedure
Stored procedure
A stored procedure is a subroutine available to applications that access a relational database system. A stored procedure is actually stored in the database data dictionary.Typical uses for stored procedures include data validation or access control mechanisms...
s written in the Java language, as well as those written in the traditional Oracle database programming language, PL/SQL
PL/SQL
PL/SQL is Oracle Corporation's procedural extension language for SQL and the Oracle relational database...
.) -
Release 11g became the current Oracle Database version in 2007.
- Berkeley DBBerkeley DBBerkeley DB is a computer software library that provides a high-performance embedded database for key/value data. Berkeley DB is a programmatic software library written in C with API bindings for C++, PHP, Java, Perl, Python, Ruby, Tcl, Smalltalk, and most other programming languages...
offers embedded databaseEmbedded DatabaseAn embedded database system is a database management system which is tightly integrated with an application software that requires access to stored data, such that the database system is “hidden” from the application’s end-user and requires little or no ongoing maintenance...
processing.
- Oracle RdbOracle RdbRdb/VMS is a relational database management system for the Hewlett-Packard OpenVMS operating system. It was originally created by Digital Equipment Corporation in 1984 as part of the VMS Information Architecture, intended to be used for data storage and retrieval by high-level languages and/or...
, a relational database system, runs on OpenVMSOpenVMSOpenVMS , previously known as VAX-11/VMS, VAX/VMS or VMS, is a computer server operating system that runs on VAX, Alpha and Itanium-based families of computers. Contrary to what its name suggests, OpenVMS is not open source software; however, the source listings are available for purchase...
platforms. Oracle acquired Rdb in 1994 from Digital Equipment CorporationDigital Equipment CorporationDigital Equipment Corporation was a major American company in the computer industry and a leading vendor of computer systems, software and peripherals from the 1960s to the 1990s...
. Oracle has since made many enhancements to this product and development continues .
- TimesTenTimesTenTimesTen is an in-memory relational database software product from Oracle Corporation. TimesTen is designed for low latency, high-volume data, event and transaction management. Unlike disk-optimized relational databases such as the Oracle database, DB2, Informix, and SQL Server, TimesTen's data is...
features in-memory database operations.
- Oracle EssbaseEssbaseEssbase is a multidimensional database management system that provides a multidimensional database platform upon which to build analytic applications. Essbase, whose name derives from "Extended Spread Sheet dataBASE", began as a product of Arbor Software, which merged with Hyperion Software in 1998...
continues the HyperionHyperion SolutionsHyperion Solutions Corporation was a business performance management software company, located in Santa Clara, California, USA, which was acquired by Oracle Corporation in 2007...
Essbase tradition of multi-dimensional database management.
- MySQLMySQLMySQL officially, but also commonly "My Sequel") is a relational database management system that runs as a server providing multi-user access to a number of databases. It is named after developer Michael Widenius' daughter, My...
, a relational database management system licensed under the GNU General Public LicenseGNU General Public LicenseThe GNU General Public License is the most widely used free software license, originally written by Richard Stallman for the GNU Project....
, initially developed by MySQL ABMySQL ABMySQL AB was a software company. MySQL AB is the creator of MySQL, a relational database management system, as well as related products such as MySQL Cluster...
.
- Oracle NoSQL Database, a scalable, distributed key-value NoSQLNosqlIn computing, NoSQL is a broad class of database management systems that differ from the classic model of the relational database management system in some significant ways. These data stores may not require fixed table schemas, usually avoid join operations, and typically scale horizontally...
database
Oracle Enterprise Manager
Some database administratorDatabase administrator
A database administrator is a person responsible for the design, implementation, maintenance and repair of an organization's database. They are also known by the titles Database Coordinator or Database Programmer, and is closely related to the Database Analyst, Database Modeller, Programmer...
s (DBAs) use Oracle Enterprise Manager
Oracle Enterprise Manager
The computer application Oracle Enterprise Manager aims to manage software produced by Oracle Corporation as well as by some non-Oracle entities.-Oracle Enterprise Manager Database Control :...
(OEM) to manage the DBMS. With Oracle Database version 10g, Oracle Corporation introduced a web-based rewrite of OEM called Oracle Enterprise Manager Database Control. Oracle Corporation has dubbed the super Enterprise Manager used to manage a grid of multiple DBMS and Application Servers as Oracle Enterprise Manager Grid Control.
Oracle Secure Enterprise Search
Oracle Secure Enterprise Search (SES), Oracle's enterprise-searchEnterprise search
Enterprise search is the practice of making content from multiple enterprise-type sources, such as databases and intranets, searchable to a defined audience.-Enterprise search summary:...
offering, gives users the ability to search for content across multiple locations, including websites, file servers, content management systems, enterprise resource planning systems, customer relationship management
Customer relationship management
Customer relationship management is a widely implemented strategy for managing a company’s interactions with customers, clients and sales prospects. It involves using technology to organize, automate, and synchronize business processes—principally sales activities, but also those for marketing,...
systems, business intelligence
Business intelligence
Business intelligence mainly refers to computer-based techniques used in identifying, extracting, and analyzing business data, such as sales revenue by products and/or departments, or by associated costs and incomes....
systems, and databases.
Oracle Beehive
Released in 2008, the Oracle BeehiveOracle Beehive
Oracle Beehive is collaboration platform software developed by Oracle Corporation that combines email, team collaboration, instant messaging, and conferencing in a single solution...
collaboration software provides team workspaces (including wikis, team calendaring and file sharing), email, calendar, instant messaging, and conferencing on a single platform. Customers can use Beehive as licensed software or as software as a service
Software as a Service
Software as a service , sometimes referred to as "on-demand software," is a software delivery model in which software and its associated data are hosted centrally and are typically accessed by users using a thin client, normally using a web browser over the Internet.SaaS has become a common...
.
Oracle Collaboration Suite
Oracle Collaboration SuiteOracle Collaboration Suite
Launched in 2000, after earlier product lines including "Oracle Mail" and Oracle InterOffice the Oracle Collaboration Suite represented the next attempt by Oracle Corporation to enter the Enterprise collaboration system market...
(OCS) contains messaging, groupware and collaboration applications. Oracle Beehive
Oracle Beehive
Oracle Beehive is collaboration platform software developed by Oracle Corporation that combines email, team collaboration, instant messaging, and conferencing in a single solution...
has superseded OCS.
Development software
Oracle Corporation's tools for developing applications include (amongst others):- Oracle DesignerOracle DesignerOracle Designer is Oracle's CASE tool for designing an information system and generating it. After generating the information system one is able to edit the generated code with Oracle Developer Suite-Components of Oracle Designer:Business Process Modelling...
- Oracle DeveloperOracle Developer SuiteOracle Developer Suite is a suite of development tools released by the Oracle Corporation. The principal components were initially Oracle Forms and Oracle Reports, although the suite was later expanded to include JDeveloper amongst others.-History:...
– which consists of Oracle FormsOracle FormsOracle Forms is a software product for creating screens that interact with an Oracle database. It has an IDE including an object navigator, property sheet and code editor that uses PL/SQL. It was originally developed to run server-side in character mode terminal sessions. It was ported to other...
, Oracle DiscovererOracle DiscovererOracle Discoverer is a tool-set for ad-hoc querying, reporting, data analysis, and Web-publishing for the Oracle Database environment. Oracle Corporation markets it as a business intelligence product...
and Oracle ReportsOracle ReportsOracle Reports is a tool for developing reports against data stored in an Oracle database. Oracle Reports consists of Oracle Reports Developer and Oracle Application Server Reports Services .-Output formats:The report output can be delivered directly to a printer or saved in the following... - Oracle JDeveloper
- NetBeansNetBeansNetBeans refers to both a platform framework for Java desktop applications, and an integrated development environment for developing with Java, JavaScript, PHP, Python, Groovy, C, C++, Scala, Clojure, and others...
- Oracle Application ExpressOracle Application ExpressOracle Application Express is a software development environment based on the Oracle database. It allows a fast development cycle to be achieved to create web based applications. It can be used for departmental-style applications with a dozen users, but can also scale up to handle thousands of...
– also known as APEX - Oracle SQL DeveloperOracle SQL DeveloperIn computing, Oracle SQL Developer is an Integrated development environment for working with SQL in Oracle databases. Oracle Corporation provides this product free; it uses the Java Development Kit.- Features :...
- Oracle SQL*Plus Worksheet
- OEPEOEPEOEPE is the acronym for Oracle Enterprise Pack for Eclipse, a set of Eclipse plugins to facilitate development of Java SE, Java EE, Web service, ORM, and Spring applications on Oracle WebLogic Server....
, Oracle Enterprise Pack for Eclipse.
Many external and third-party tools make the Oracle database administrator
Database administrator
A database administrator is a person responsible for the design, implementation, maintenance and repair of an organization's database. They are also known by the titles Database Coordinator or Database Programmer, and is closely related to the Database Analyst, Database Modeller, Programmer...
's tasks easier.
Hardware
- The Sun hardware range acquired by Oracle Corporation's purchase of Sun MicrosystemsSun MicrosystemsSun Microsystems, Inc. was a company that sold :computers, computer components, :computer software, and :information technology services. Sun was founded on February 24, 1982...
- ExadataOracle ExadataOracle Exadata is a database appliance with support for both OLTP and OLAP workloads. It was initially designed in collaboration between Oracle Corporation and Hewlett Packard where Oracle designed the database, operating system , and storage software whereas HP designed the hardware for it...
(hardware/software integrated storage) - ExalogicOracle ExalogicExalogic is a computer appliance made by Oracle Corporation, commercially available since 2010. It is a cluster of x86-64-servers with preinstalled Fusion Middleware....
- Big Data Appliance (integrated map-reduce/big dataBig dataBig data are datasets that grow so large that they become awkward to work with using on-hand database management tools. Difficulties include capture, storage, search, sharing, analytics, and visualizing...
solution)
Application products
Besides databases, Oracle also sells a suite of business applications. The Oracle E-Business Suite includes software to perform financial- (Oracle Financials), manufacturing-, enterprise resource planning and HR- (Human Resource Management SystemsHuman resource management systems
A Human Resource Management System or Human Resource Information System , refers to the systems and processes at the intersection between human resource management and information technology...
) -related functions (Oracle HR). Users can access these facilities through a browser interface over the Internet or via a corporate intranet.
Following a number of high-value acquisitions beginning in 2003, especially in the area of applications, Oracle Corporation maintains a number of product lines:
- Oracle E-Business Suite
- PeopleSoft Enterprise
- Siebel
- JD Edwards EnterpriseOne
- JD Edwards World
Development of applications commonly takes place in Java (using Oracle JDeveloper) or through PL/SQL (using, for example, Oracle Forms
Oracle Forms
Oracle Forms is a software product for creating screens that interact with an Oracle database. It has an IDE including an object navigator, property sheet and code editor that uses PL/SQL. It was originally developed to run server-side in character mode terminal sessions. It was ported to other...
and Oracle Reports
Oracle Reports
Oracle Reports is a tool for developing reports against data stored in an Oracle database. Oracle Reports consists of Oracle Reports Developer and Oracle Application Server Reports Services .-Output formats:The report output can be delivered directly to a printer or saved in the following...
). Oracle Corporation has started a drive toward "wizard"-driven environments with a view to enabling non-programmers to produce simple data-driven applications.
Third-party applications
Oracle Corporation works with "Oracle Certified Partners" to enhance its overall product-range.The variety of applications from third-party vendors includes database
Database
A database is an organized collection of data for one or more purposes, usually in digital form. The data are typically organized to model relevant aspects of reality , in a way that supports processes requiring this information...
applications for archiving, splitting and control, ERP and CRM systems, as well as more niche and focused products providing a range of commercial functions in the areas of human resources, financial control and governance, risk management, and compliance
Governance, Risk Management, and Compliance
Governance, Risk Management, and Compliance or GRC is the umbrella term covering an organization's approach across these three areas. Being closely related concerns, governance, risk and compliance activities are increasingly being integrated and aligned to some extent in order to avoid conflicts,...
(GRC).
Vendors include:
- Aquire
- Hewlett-PackardHewlett-PackardHewlett-Packard Company or HP is an American multinational information technology corporation headquartered in Palo Alto, California, USA that provides products, technologies, softwares, solutions and services to consumers, small- and medium-sized businesses and large enterprises, including...
- HighJump Software
- Human Concepts
- Q Software Global Ltd, security and compliance solutions developer
- Solix Technologies
- UC4 Software
Services
- Oracle Academy (training in computing and commerce in partnership with educational institutions)
- Oracle Consulting
- Oracle University (training in Oracle products)
- Oracle Certification ProgramOracle Certification ProgramThe Oracle Certification Program is a professional certification program offered by the Oracle Corporation. There are three levels of Oracle Certification in several disciplines: Oracle Certified Associate , Oracle Certified Professional , and Oracle Certified Master .-Oracle9i Database...
- Oracle Certification Program
- Oracle On Demand (a SaaSSaasSAAS is an abbreviation for* Social Accountability Accreditation Services* Software as a service * Student Awards Agency for Scotland* Seattle Academy of Arts and Sciences* South Australian Ambulance Service...
offering) - Oracle Support
- Product support: Oracle Corporation identifies its customers and their support entitlements using CSI (Customer Support Identifier) codes. Registered customers can submit Service Requests (SRs) – usually via the web-accessible MetaLink interface or (as from September 2008) from its super-set: My Oracle Support.
- Critical Patch Updates: since 2005, Oracle Corporation has grouped collections of patchPatch (computing)A patch is a piece of software designed to fix problems with, or update a computer program or its supporting data. This includes fixing security vulnerabilities and other bugs, and improving the usability or performance...
es and security fixes for its products each quarter into a "Critical Patch Update" (CPU), released each January, April, July and October. - Oracle Configuration Manager (OCM, previously Customer Configuration repository or CCR) gathers and uploads details of the configuration of Oracle software.
- Oracle Auto Service Request (ASR) automatically creates Service Requests for specific hardware faults on qualified Oracle server, storage, Oracle ExadataOracle ExadataOracle Exadata is a database appliance with support for both OLTP and OLAP workloads. It was initially designed in collaboration between Oracle Corporation and Hewlett Packard where Oracle designed the database, operating system , and storage software whereas HP designed the hardware for it...
, and Oracle ExalogicOracle ExalogicExalogic is a computer appliance made by Oracle Corporation, commercially available since 2010. It is a cluster of x86-64-servers with preinstalled Fusion Middleware....
products.
- Oracle Financing
Sales practices
In 1990 Oracle laid off 10% (about 400 people) of its work force because of accounting errors. This crisis came about because of Oracle's "up-front" marketing strategy, in which sales people urged potential customers to buy the largest possible amount of software all at once. The sales people then booked the value of future license sales in the current quarter, thereby increasing their bonuses. This became a problem when the future sales subsequently failed to materialize. Oracle eventually had to restate its earnings twice, and also settled (out of court) class-actionClass action
In law, a class action, a class suit, or a representative action is a form of lawsuit in which a large group of people collectively bring a claim to court and/or in which a class of defendants is being sued...
lawsuits arising from its having overstated its earnings. Ellison stated in 1992 that Oracle had made "an incredible business mistake."
Competition
Although IBM dominated the mainframe relational-database market with its DB2 and SQL/DS database products, it delayedentering the market for a relational database on UNIX and Windows operating systems. This left the door open for SybaseSybase
Sybase, an SAP company, is an enterprise software and services company offering software to manage, analyze, and mobilize information, using relational databases, analytics and data warehousing solutions and mobile applications development platforms....
, Oracle, and Informix (and eventually Microsoft) to dominate mid-range and microcomputers.
Around this time, Oracle technology started to lag technically behind that of Sybase
Sybase
Sybase, an SAP company, is an enterprise software and services company offering software to manage, analyze, and mobilize information, using relational databases, analytics and data warehousing solutions and mobile applications development platforms....
. In 1990–1993 Sybase became the fastest-growing database company and the database industry's darling vendor, but soon fell victim to its merger mania and to technical issues with System X. Sybase's 1993 merger with PowerSoft resulted in its losing its focus on its core database technology. In 1993, Sybase sold the rights to its database software running under the Windows operating system to Microsoft Corporation, which markets it under the name "SQL Server."
In 1994, Informix
Informix
IBM Informix is a family of relational database management system developed by IBM. It is positioned as IBM's flagship data server for online transaction processing as well as integrated solutions...
Software overtook Sybase and became Oracle's most important rival. The intense war between Informix CEO Phil White and Ellison made front-page news in Silicon Valley
Silicon Valley
Silicon Valley is a term which refers to the southern part of the San Francisco Bay Area in Northern California in the United States. The region is home to many of the world's largest technology corporations...
for three years. Informix claimed that Oracle had hired away Informix engineers to disclose important trade secrets about an upcoming product. Informix finally dropped its lawsuit against Oracle in 1997. In November 2005 a book detailing the war between Oracle and Informix appeared,
providing a detailed chronology of the battle of Informix against Oracle, and how Informix Software's CEO Phil White landed in jail because of his obsession with overtaking Ellison.
Once it had overcome Informix and Sybase, Oracle Corporation enjoyed years of dominance in the database market until use of Microsoft SQL Server
Microsoft SQL Server
Microsoft SQL Server is a relational database server, developed by Microsoft: It is a software product whose primary function is to store and retrieve data as requested by other software applications, be it those on the same computer or those running on another computer across a network...
became widespread in the late 1990s and IBM acquired Informix Software in 2000 (to complement its DB2 database). Oracle competes for new database licenses on UNIX, Linux, and Windows operating systems primarily against IBM's DB2 and Microsoft SQL Server (which only runs on Windows). IBM's DB2 dominates the mainframe database market.
In 2004 Oracle's sales grew at a rate of 14.5% to $6.2 billion, giving it 41.3% and the top share of the relational-database market (InformationWeek – March, 2005), with market share estimated at up to 44.6% in 2005 by some sources.
Oracle Corporation's main competitors in the database arena remain IBM DB2
IBM DB2
The IBM DB2 Enterprise Server Edition is a relational model database server developed by IBM. It primarily runs on Unix , Linux, IBM i , z/OS and Windows servers. DB2 also powers the different IBM InfoSphere Warehouse editions...
and Microsoft SQL Server
Microsoft SQL Server
Microsoft SQL Server is a relational database server, developed by Microsoft: It is a software product whose primary function is to store and retrieve data as requested by other software applications, be it those on the same computer or those running on another computer across a network...
, and to a lesser extent Sybase
Sybase
Sybase, an SAP company, is an enterprise software and services company offering software to manage, analyze, and mobilize information, using relational databases, analytics and data warehousing solutions and mobile applications development platforms....
and Teradata
Teradata
Teradata Corporation is a vendor specializing in data warehousing and analytic applications. Its products are commonly used by companies to manage data warehouses for analytics and business intelligence purposes. Teradata was formerly a division of NCR Corporation, with the spinoff from NCR on...
, with open-source databases such as PostgreSQL
PostgreSQL
PostgreSQL, often simply Postgres, is an object-relational database management system available for many platforms including Linux, FreeBSD, Solaris, MS Windows and Mac OS X. It is released under the PostgreSQL License, which is an MIT-style license, and is thus free and open source software...
and MySQL
MySQL
MySQL officially, but also commonly "My Sequel") is a relational database management system that runs as a server providing multi-user access to a number of databases. It is named after developer Michael Widenius' daughter, My...
also having a significant share of the market. EnterpriseDB
EnterpriseDB
EnterpriseDB is a privately held company that provides enterprise class support for PostgreSQL through its product Postgres Plus Standard Server, which is PostgreSQL with extra bundled modules...
, based on PostgreSQL, has made inroads by proclaiming that its product delivers Oracle compatibility features at a much lower price-point.
In the software-applications market, Oracle Corporation primarily competes against SAP
SAP AG
SAP AG is a German software corporation that makes enterprise software to manage business operations and customer relations. Headquartered in Walldorf, Baden-Württemberg, with regional offices around the world, SAP is the market leader in enterprise application software...
. On March 22, 2007 Oracle sued SAP, accusing them of fraud and unfair competition.
In the market for business intelligence
Business intelligence
Business intelligence mainly refers to computer-based techniques used in identifying, extracting, and analyzing business data, such as sales revenue by products and/or departments, or by associated costs and incomes....
software, many other software companies – small and large – have successfully competed in quality with Oracle and SAP products. Business intelligence vendors can be categorized into the "big four" consolidated BI firms such as Oracle, who has entered BI market through a recent trend of acquisitions (including Hyperion Solutions
Hyperion Solutions
Hyperion Solutions Corporation was a business performance management software company, located in Santa Clara, California, USA, which was acquired by Oracle Corporation in 2007...
), and the independent "pure play" vendors such as MicroStrategy
MicroStrategy
MicroStrategy, Inc. , is a business intelligence software vendor. MicroStrategy's software enables leading organizations worldwide to analyze the vast amounts of data stored across their enterprises to make more strategic business decisions...
, Actuate, and SAS.
Oracle and SAP
From 1988 Oracle Corporation and the German company SAP AGSAP AG
SAP AG is a German software corporation that makes enterprise software to manage business operations and customer relations. Headquartered in Walldorf, Baden-Württemberg, with regional offices around the world, SAP is the market leader in enterprise application software...
had a decade-long history of cooperation, beginning with the integration of SAP's R/3
SAP R/3
SAP R/3 is the former name of the main enterprise resource planning software produced by SAP AG. It is an enterprise-wide information system designed to coordinate all the resources, information, and activities needed to complete business processes such as order fulfillment or billing.- History of...
enterprise application suite with Oracle's relational database products. The marketplace regarded the two firms' products as complementing one another, rather than as substitutes. Despite the current SAP partnership with Microsoft, and the increasing integration of SAP applications with Microsoft products (such as Microsoft SQL Server
Microsoft SQL Server
Microsoft SQL Server is a relational database server, developed by Microsoft: It is a software product whose primary function is to store and retrieve data as requested by other software applications, be it those on the same computer or those running on another computer across a network...
, a competitor to Oracle Database), Oracle and SAP continue their cooperation. According to Oracle Corporation, the majority of SAP's customers use Oracle databases.
In years, however, competition between Oracle and SAP has increased, and as a result, the rivalry between the two companies has grown, even developing into a feud between the co-founders of the two companies, where one party would frequently voice strong negative comments about the other company.
In 2004 Oracle began to increase its interest in the enterprise-applications market (in 1989, Oracle had already released Oracle Financials). A series of acquisitions by Oracle Corporation began, most notably those of PeopleSoft
PeopleSoft
PeopleSoft, Inc. was a company that provided Human Resource Management Systems , Financial Management Solutions , Supply Chain and customer relationship management software, as well as software solutions for manufacturing, enterprise performance management, and student administration to large...
, Siebel Systems
Siebel Systems
Siebel CRM Systems, Inc. was a software company principally engaged in the design, development, marketing, and support of customer relationship management applications. The company was founded by Thomas Siebel in 1993. At first known mainly for its sales force automation products, the company...
and Hyperion
Hyperion Solutions
Hyperion Solutions Corporation was a business performance management software company, located in Santa Clara, California, USA, which was acquired by Oracle Corporation in 2007...
.
SAP recognized that Oracle had started to become a competitor in a market where SAP had the leadership
Leadership
Leadership has been described as the “process of social influence in which one person can enlist the aid and support of others in the accomplishment of a common task". Other in-depth definitions of leadership have also emerged.-Theories:...
, and saw an opportunity to lure in customers from those companies that Oracle Corporation had acquired. SAP would offer those customers special discounts on the licenses for its enterprise applications.
Oracle Corporation would resort to a similar strategy, by advising SAP customers to get "OFF SAP" (a play on the words of the acronym for its middleware platform "Oracle Fusion for SAP"),
and also by providing special discounts on licenses and services to SAP customers who chose Oracle Corporation products.
Oracle and SAP (the latter through its recently acquired subsidiary TomorrowNow
TomorrowNow
TomorrowNow was founded in December 1998 by Andrew Nelson and Seth Ravin, to provide upgrade and technical service to PeopleSoft licensees with large, complex environments...
) compete in the third-party enterprise software maintenance and support market. On March 22, 2007, Oracle filed a lawsuit against SAP. In Oracle Corporation v. SAP AG
Oracle Corporation v. SAP AG
Oracle Corp v. SAP AG, 07-01658, is a United States District Court for the Northern District of California case in which Oracle sued SAP, alleging that SAP had engaged in copyright infringement by downloading thousands of copyrighted documents and programs from Oracle's Customer Connection website...
Oracle alleged that TomorrowNow, which provides discount support for legacy Oracle product lines, used the accounts of former Oracle customers to systematically download patches and support documents from Oracle's website and to appropriate them for SAP's use.
Some analysts have suggested the suit could form part of a strategy by Oracle Corporation to decrease competition with SAP in the market for third-party enterprise software maintenance and support.
On July 3, 2007, SAP admitted that TomorrowNow employees had made "inappropriate downloads" from the Oracle support web site. However, it claims that SAP personnel and SAP customers had no access to Oracle intellectual property via TomorrowNow. SAP's CEO Henning Kagermann
Henning Kagermann
Henning Kagermann was chairman of the Executive Board and Chief Executive Officer of SAP AG. Together with Hasso Plattner, co-founder of SAP, he was co-chairman of the SAP Executive Board and CEO From 1998 to 2003...
stated that "Even a single inappropriate download is unacceptable from my perspective. We regret very much that this occurred." Additionally, SAP announced that it had "instituted changes" in TomorrowNow's operational oversight.
On November 23, 2010 a U.S. district court
United States District Court for the Northern District of California
The United States District Court for the Northern District of California is the federal United States district court whose jurisdiction comprises following counties of California: Alameda, Contra Costa, Del Norte, Humboldt, Lake, Marin, Mendocino, Monterey, Napa, San Benito, San Francisco, San...
jury in Oakland California found that SAP AG must pay Oracle Corp $1.3 billion for copyright infringement, awarding damages that could be the largest-ever for copyright infringement. While admitting liability, SAP estimated the damages at no more than $40 million, while Oracle claimed that they are at least $1.65 billion. The awarded amount is one of the 10 or 20 largest jury verdicts in U.S. legal history. SAP said they were disappointed by the verdict and might appeal. On September 1, 2011, a federal judge overturned the judgment and granted SAP a new trial, calling Oracle's original award "grossly" excessive.
Slogans
- "Information driven"
- For the Oracle Database: "Can't break it, can't break in" and "Unbreakable": "The Information Company"
- As of 2010: "Software. Hardware. Complete."
- As of late 2010: "Hardware and Software, Engineered to Work Together"
Media
Oracle Corporation produces and distributes the "Oracle ClearView" series of videos as part of its marketing mix.Trashgate
In 2000 Oracle gained attention from the computer industryComputer industry
Computer industry is a collective term used to describe the whole range of businesses involved in developing computer software, designing computer hardware and computer networking infrastructures, the manufacture of computer components and the provision of information technology services.-See...
and the press after hiring private investigator
Private investigator
A private investigator , private detective or inquiry agent, is a person who can be hired by individuals or groups to undertake investigatory law services. Private detectives/investigators often work for attorneys in civil cases. Many work for insurance companies to investigate suspicious claims...
s to dig through the trash of organizations involved in an antitrust trial involving Microsoft
United States v. Microsoft
United States v. Microsoft was a set of civil actions filed against Microsoft Corporation pursuant to the Sherman Antitrust Act of 1890 Section 1 and 2 on May 8, 1998 by the United States Department of Justice and 20 U.S. states. Joel I. Klein was the lead prosecutor...
.
The Chairman of Oracle Corporation, Larry Ellison, staunchly defended his company's hiring of an East Coast detective agency to investigate groups that supported rival Microsoft Corporation during its antitrust trial, calling the snooping a "public service." The investigation reportedly included a $1,200 offer to janitors at the Association for Competitive Technology
Association for Competitive Technology
The Association for Competitive Technology is a trade association representing over 3,000 application software developers and small and mid-sized technology companies in the United States and in Europe...
to look through Microsoft's trash. Asked how he'd feel if others were looking into Oracle's business activities, Ellison said: "We will ship our garbage to Redmond, and they can go through it. We believe in full disclosure."
"Can't break it, can't break in"
At one point, Oracle Corporation marketed many of its products using the slogan "Can't break it, can't break in," or "Unbreakable." This signifies a demand on information securityInformation security
Information security means protecting information and information systems from unauthorized access, use, disclosure, disruption, modification, perusal, inspection, recording or destruction....
. Oracle Corporation also stresses the reliability of networked databases and network access to databases as major selling points.
However, two weeks after its introduction in 2002, David Litchfield
David Litchfield
David Litchfield is a renowned security expert from the United Kingdom, who focuses on the discovery and publication of computer security vulnerabilities with a special focus on database server software...
, Alexander Kornbrust
Alexander Kornbrust
Alexander Kornbrust is the founder and CEO of Red-Database-Security GmbH , a company specialized in Oracle security.He is one of the most active security researchers in the world working on Oracle security. He gave various presentations on security conferences like Black Hat or IT Underground....
, Cesar Cerrudo and others demonstrated a whole suite of successful attacks against Oracle products.
Commentators criticized the slogan as unrealistic and as an invitation to crackers, but Oracle Corporation's chief security officer Mary Ann Davidson
Mary Ann Davidson
Mary Ann Davidson is the Chief Security Officer of Oracle Corporation, the second largest software company in the world. Her outspoken views regarding software security and role as security spokesperson for a leading database product have made hers an important voice among computer security...
portrayed the criticism as unfair. Rather than representing a literal claim of Oracle's products' impregnability, she saw the campaign in the context of fourteen independent security evaluations
that Oracle Corporation's database server had passed.
Relationship with John Ashcroft
In 2004, then-United States Attorney GeneralUnited States Attorney General
The United States Attorney General is the head of the United States Department of Justice concerned with legal affairs and is the chief law enforcement officer of the United States government. The attorney general is considered to be the chief lawyer of the U.S. government...
John Ashcroft
John Ashcroft
John David Ashcroft is a United States politician who served as the 79th United States Attorney General, from 2001 until 2005, appointed by President George W. Bush. Ashcroft previously served as the 50th Governor of Missouri and a U.S...
sued Oracle Corporation to prevent them acquiring a multi-billion dollar intelligence contract. After Ashcroft's resignation from government, he founded a lobbying firm, The Ashcroft Group, which Oracle hired in 2005. With the group's help, Oracle went on to acquire the contract.
Acquisition of Sun Microsystems
On January 27, 2010, Oracle announced it had completed its acquisition of Sun MicrosystemsSun Microsystems
Sun Microsystems, Inc. was a company that sold :computers, computer components, :computer software, and :information technology services. Sun was founded on February 24, 1982...
– valued at more than $7 billion – a move that transformed Oracle from solely a software company to a manufacturer of both software and hardware. The acquisition was delayed for several months by the EU Commission because of concerns about MySQL
MySQL
MySQL officially, but also commonly "My Sequel") is a relational database management system that runs as a server providing multi-user access to a number of databases. It is named after developer Michael Widenius' daughter, My...
, however was unconditionally approved in the end. This acquisition was important to some in the open source community and also to some other companies, as they feared Oracle might end Sun's traditional support of open source
Open source
The term open source describes practices in production and development that promote access to the end product's source materials. Some consider open source a philosophy, others consider it a pragmatic methodology...
projects. Since the acquisition, Oracle has discontinued OpenSolaris
OpenSolaris
OpenSolaris was an open source computer operating system based on Solaris created by Sun Microsystems. It was also the name of the project initiated by Sun to build a developer and user community around the software...
and sued Google
Google
Google Inc. is an American multinational public corporation invested in Internet search, cloud computing, and advertising technologies. Google hosts and develops a number of Internet-based services and products, and generates profit primarily from advertising through its AdWords program...
over their newly acquired Java
Java (programming language)
Java is a programming language originally developed by James Gosling at Sun Microsystems and released in 1995 as a core component of Sun Microsystems' Java platform. The language derives much of its syntax from C and C++ but has a simpler object model and fewer low-level facilities...
patents from Sun. In September 2011 a Wikileaks
Wikileaks
WikiLeaks is an international self-described not-for-profit organisation that publishes submissions of private, secret, and classified media from anonymous news sources, news leaks, and whistleblowers. Its website, launched in 2006 under The Sunshine Press organisation, claimed a database of more...
cable was published revealing that the U.S. pressured the E.U. to allow Oracle to acquire Sun.
Justice Department lawsuit
On July 29, 2010, the United States Department of JusticeUnited States Department of Justice
The United States Department of Justice , is the United States federal executive department responsible for the enforcement of the law and administration of justice, equivalent to the justice or interior ministries of other countries.The Department is led by the Attorney General, who is nominated...
filed suit against Oracle Corporation alleging fraud. The lawsuit argues that the government received deals inferior to those Oracle gave to its commercial clients. The DoJ added its heft to an already existing whistleblower lawsuit filed by Paul Frascella, who was once senior director of contract services at Oracle.
Acquisition of Phase Forward
On August 11, 2010, Phase Forward, a company that developed data management systems for the pharmaceutical industry, became a wholly owned subsidiary of Oracle Corporation. Some analysts believe this acquisition has a huge impact on the healthcare and life sciences software market. For example Loraine Lawson writes that "health care isn't just another vertical. It's the vertical to watch, an area where spending has stayed strong despite economic turmoil in other sectors. It's also primed for growth in the United States, where it's the focus of major government reform efforts."Lawsuit against Google
On August 12, 2010, Oracle announced a lawsuit against GoogleGoogle
Google Inc. is an American multinational public corporation invested in Internet search, cloud computing, and advertising technologies. Google hosts and develops a number of Internet-based services and products, and generates profit primarily from advertising through its AdWords program...
concerning patent and copyright infringement of Java
Java (programming language)
Java is a programming language originally developed by James Gosling at Sun Microsystems and released in 1995 as a core component of Sun Microsystems' Java platform. The language derives much of its syntax from C and C++ but has a simpler object model and fewer low-level facilities...
in Google's development of Android. Oracle claims that "Google’s Android competes with Oracle America’s Java" and that "Google has been aware of Sun’s patent portfolio ... since Google hired certain former Sun Java engineers." Oracle acquired the Java patents when it bought Sun Microsystems
Sun Microsystems
Sun Microsystems, Inc. was a company that sold :computers, computer components, :computer software, and :information technology services. Sun was founded on February 24, 1982...
in January 2010. Google's reimplementation of the Java platform supports most Java functionality, apart from AWT
Abstract Window Toolkit
The Abstract Window Toolkit is Java's original platform-independent windowing, graphics, and user-interface widget toolkit. The AWT is now part of the Java Foundation Classes — the standard API for providing a graphical user interface for a Java program.AWT is also the GUI toolkit for a...
and Swing
Swing (Java)
Swing is the primary Java GUI widget toolkit. It is part of Oracle's Java Foundation Classes — an API for providing a graphical user interface for Java programs....
, instead supplying a native widget toolkit
Widget toolkit
In computing, a widget toolkit, widget library, or GUI toolkit is a set of widgets for use in designing applications with graphical user interfaces...
. This may have been a violation of conditions under which Sun granted OpenJDK
OpenJDK
OpenJDK is a free and open source implementation of the Java programming language. It is the result of an effort Sun Microsystems began in 2006...
patents to use open source Java. Oracle originally sought damages up to $6.1 billion, but this valuation was rejected by a federal judge who asked Oracle to revise the estimate. The lawsuit is said to potentially have "far-reaching ramifications". The trial was scheduled to start on October 31, 2011.
As of now, the trial for this case has been delayed indefinitely, pending on the schedule of District Court Judge William Alsup or the shift of the case to another judge.
Discontinuation of OpenSolaris
On August 13, 2010, an internal Oracle memo leaked to the Internet cited plans for ending the OpenSolarisOpenSolaris
OpenSolaris was an open source computer operating system based on Solaris created by Sun Microsystems. It was also the name of the project initiated by Sun to build a developer and user community around the software...
operating system project and community. With Oracle planning to develop Solaris only in a closed source fashion, OpenSolaris developers moved to the Illumos
Illumos
Illumos is a derivative of OS/Net , which basically is a Solaris/OpenSolaris kernel with the bulk of the drivers, core libraries, and basic utilities. It is dependent on OS/Net, which Illumos will follow very closely while allowing to retain changes to code which might be unacceptable to upstream...
and OpenIndiana
OpenIndiana
OpenIndiana is a Unix-like computer operating system released as free and open source software. It forked from OpenSolaris after the discontinuation of that project by Oracle and aims to continue development and distribution of the OpenSolaris codebase. The project operates under the umbrella of...
project, among others.
Discontinuation of OpenSSO
As Oracle completed their acquisition of Sun Microsystems in February 2010, they announced that OpenSSO would no longer be their strategic product. Shortly after, OpenSSO was forked to OpenAMOpenAM
OpenAM is an open source access management, entitlements and federation server platform.ForgeRock announced in February 2010 that they would continue to develop and support OpenSSO from Sun now that Oracle have chosen to discontinue development on the project...
. and will continue to be developed and supported by ForgeRock.
Hurd replaces Phillips as President
On September 6, 2010, Oracle announced that former Hewlett-PackardHewlett-Packard
Hewlett-Packard Company or HP is an American multinational information technology corporation headquartered in Palo Alto, California, USA that provides products, technologies, softwares, solutions and services to consumers, small- and medium-sized businesses and large enterprises, including...
CEO Mark Hurd is replacing Charles Phillips as Oracle Co-President. Apparently Phillips had wanted to leave Oracle since December 2009. "Oracle is clearly capitalizing on this opportunity to get someone strong from a top hardware company," said Forrester analyst James Staten. "In terms of how this helps Oracle against IBM, there is reason to be optimistic."
On September 7, 2010, HP announced a civil lawsuit against Hurd "to protect HP's trade secrets." On September 20, Oracle and HP published a joint press release announcing the resolution of the lawsuit on confidential terms and reaffirming commitment to long-term strategic partnership between the companies.
OpenOffice issue
A number of OpenOffice developers had formed The Document FoundationThe Document Foundation
The Document Foundation is an open-source software organization. It was created by members of the OpenOffice.org community to manage and develop a fork called LibreOffice. The goal is to produce a vendor-independent office suite with ODF support and without any copyright assignment requirements...
and had received backing by Google, Novell, Red Hat, and Canonical, as well as some others, but were unable to get Oracle to donate the brand OpenOffice.org, causing a fork in the development of OpenOffice with the foundation now developing and promoting LibreOffice
LibreOffice
LibreOffice is a free and open source office suite developed by The Document Foundation as a fork of OpenOffice.org. It is largely compatible with other major office suites, including Microsoft Office, and available on a variety of platforms...
. Oracle has expressed no interest in sponsoring the new project and has asked the OpenOffice developers that have started the project to resign from the company due to "conflicts of interest." On November 1, 2010, 33 of the OpenOffice developers gave their letters of resignation. On June 1, 2011, Oracle donated OpenOffice to Apache Software Foundation
Apache Software Foundation
The Apache Software Foundation is a non-profit corporation to support Apache software projects, including the Apache HTTP Server. The ASF was formed from the Apache Group and incorporated in Delaware, U.S., in June 1999.The Apache Software Foundation is a decentralized community of developers...
.
HP & Oracle lawsuit
On Jun 15, 2011, HP filed a lawsuit in California Superior Court in Santa Clara, claiming that Oracle had breached an agreement to support the Itanium microprocessor used in HP's high-end enterprise servers. A week before, HP had sent a "formal legal demand" letter to Oracle to force the world's No. 3 software maker to reverse its decision to discontinue software development on Intel Itanium microprocessor. Oracle has responded calling HP's lawsuit "an abuse of the judicial process" and saying that had it known SAPSAP AG
SAP AG is a German software corporation that makes enterprise software to manage business operations and customer relations. Headquartered in Walldorf, Baden-Württemberg, with regional offices around the world, SAP is the market leader in enterprise application software...
's Leo Apotheker was about to be hired as HP's new CEO, any support for HP's Itanium servers would not have been implied.
People
- Larry EllisonLarry EllisonLawrence Joseph "Larry" Ellison is the co-founder and chief executive officer of Oracle Corporation, one of the world's leading enterprise software companies. As of 2011, he is the third wealthiest American citizen, with an estimated worth of $33 billion.- Early life :Larry Ellison was born in the...
: CEO since he co-founded the company in 1977, and Chairman from 1990 to 2004. - Bob MinerBob MinerRobert Nimrod "Bob" Miner was a co-founder of Oracle Corporation and architect of Oracle's relational database management system....
: Co-founder of the company and co-architect of Oracle DatabaseOracle DatabaseThe Oracle Database is an object-relational database management system produced and marketed by Oracle Corporation....
. Led product design and development for Oracle Database from 1977 to 1992. Spun off a technology group within Oracle in 1992. Oracle board member until 1993. - Ed OatesEd OatesEdward A. "Ed" Oates co-founded Software Development Labs in August 1977 with Larry Ellison, and Bob Miner. Software Development Labs later became Oracle Corporation....
: Co-founder of the company. Retired from Oracle in 1996. - Bruce Scott: One of the first employees (number 4) at Oracle (then Software Development Laboratories), Scott served as the co-author and co-architect of Oracle V1, V2 and V3.
- Umang GuptaUmang GuptaUmang Gupta is an Indian-American engineer, businessman and millionaire philanthropist.- Career :Umang Gupta is the current Chairman of the Board and Chief Executive Officer of Keynote Systems, Inc. since December 1997. Keynote Systems is a Silicon Valley, California Company that employs 307...
: Former Vice President and General Manager (joined in 1981). Wrote the first business plan for the company. Current Chairman and CEO of Keynote Systems, Inc. - Jeff HenleyJeffrey O. HenleyJeffrey O. Henley is the Chairman of Oracle Corporation. He has held this position since January 2004, prior to which he was the Chief Financial Officer and an Executive Vice President for 13 years from March 1991 to July 2004...
: Current Chairman (since 2004). Previously CFO of Oracle (1991–2004). - Safra CatzSafra A. CatzSafra A. Catz , an Israeli - American manager, has been a President of Oracle Corporation since January 2004 and a member of the company's Board of Directors since October 2001. She also served as the company's Chief Financial Officer from November 2005 to September 2008. She has been at Oracle...
: Co-President (since 2004). In 2009 she was ranked by Fortune as the 12th most powerful woman in business. - Charles Phillips: Past Co-President, replaced by Mark Hurd.
- Mark Hurd: Co-President (since 2010).
Offices
Oracle Corporation has its world headquarters on the San Francisco PeninsulaSan Francisco Peninsula
The San Francisco Peninsula is a peninsula in the San Francisco Bay Area that separates the San Francisco Bay from the Pacific Ocean. On its northern tip is the City and County of San Francisco. Its southern base is in Santa Clara County, including the cities of Palo Alto, Los Altos, and Mountain...
in the Redwood Shores
Redwood Shores, California
Redwood Shores is an affluent waterfront neighborhood located in San Mateo County on the San Francisco Peninsula in California. It is located on the eastern edge of Belmont, but is actually part of incorporated Redwood City....
area of Redwood City
Redwood City, California
Redwood City is a California charter city located on the San Francisco Peninsula in Northern California, approximately 27 miles south of San Francisco, and 24 miles north of San Jose. Redwood City's history spans from its earliest inhabitation by the Ohlone people, to its tradition as a port for...
, adjacent to Belmont
Belmont, California
Belmont is a city in San Mateo County, California, United States. It is in the San Francisco Bay Area, located half-way down the San Francisco Peninsula between San Mateo and San Carlos. It was originally part of the Rancho de las Pulgas, for which one of its main roads, the Alameda de las Pulgas,...
, near San Carlos Airport
San Carlos Airport
San Carlos Airport is a county-owned public use airport in San Mateo County, California, United States. It is located two nautical miles northeast of the central business district of San Carlos, California. The FAA's National Plan of Integrated Airport Systems classifies San Carlos as a reliever...
(IATA airport code
IATA airport code
An IATA airport code, also known an IATA location identifier, IATA station code or simply a location identifier, is a three-letter code designating many airports around the world, defined by the International Air Transport Association...
: SQL).
Oracle HQ stands on the former site of Marine World Africa USA
Marine World/Africa U.S.A., California
Marine World/Africa USA, was a tourist attraction located in Redwood Shores, California. The park was named Marine World when it first opened.-Origins of the Africa U.S.A. name:...
, which moved from Redwood Shores to Vallejo
Vallejo, California
Vallejo is the largest city in Solano County, California, United States. The population was 115,942 at the 2010 census. It is located in the San Francisco Bay Area on the northeastern shore of San Pablo Bay...
in 1986. Oracle Corporation originally leased two buildings on the site, moving its finance and administration departments from the corporation's former headquarters on Davis Drive, Belmont
Belmont, California
Belmont is a city in San Mateo County, California, United States. It is in the San Francisco Bay Area, located half-way down the San Francisco Peninsula between San Mateo and San Carlos. It was originally part of the Rancho de las Pulgas, for which one of its main roads, the Alameda de las Pulgas,...
, California. Eventually, Oracle purchased the complex and constructed a further four main buildings.
The distinctive Oracle Parkway buildings, nicknamed the Emerald City, were used as the futuristic headquarters of the fictional company "NorthAm Robotics" in the Robin Williams
Robin Williams
Robin McLaurin Williams is an American actor and comedian. Rising to fame with his role as the alien Mork in the TV series Mork and Mindy, and later stand-up comedy work, Williams has performed in many feature films since 1980. He won the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor for his performance...
film Bicentennial Man
Bicentennial Man (film)
Bicentennial Man is a 1999 American drama and science fiction film starring Robin Williams and Sam Neill. Based on the novel The Positronic Man, co-written by Isaac Asimov and Robert Silverberg which is itself based on Asimov's original novella titled The Bicentennial Man, the plot explores issues...
(1999).
Sponsorships
On October 20, 2006, the Golden State WarriorsGolden State Warriors
The Golden State Warriors are an American professional basketball team based in Oakland, California. They are part of the Pacific Division of the Western Conference in the National Basketball Association...
and the Oracle Corporation announced a 10-year agreement in which the Oakland Arena would become known as the Oracle Arena.
Larry Ellison's sailing team competes as Oracle Racing.
Sean Tucker's
Sean D. Tucker
Sean D. Tucker is an American aerobatic pilot who performs in airshows worldwide for Team Oracle. Tucker is a leader in the airshow business as well as in the larger aviation industry. He is the only civilian performer ever to be allowed to fly close formation with the Blue Angels and the...
"Challenger II" stunt biplane performs frequently at air shows around the US.
See also
- List of acquisitions by Oracle
- Oracle ApplicationsOracle ApplicationsOracle Applications comprise the applications software or business software of Oracle Corporation. The term refers to the non-database parts of Oracle's software portfolio....
- Oracle Certification ProgramOracle Certification ProgramThe Oracle Certification Program is a professional certification program offered by the Oracle Corporation. There are three levels of Oracle Certification in several disciplines: Oracle Certified Associate , Oracle Certified Professional , and Oracle Certified Master .-Oracle9i Database...
- Oracle ClinicalOracle ClinicalOracle Clinical or O*C is a database management system designed by Oracle to provide data management, data entry and data validation functionalities to Clinical Trials process.The Major Functions Supported by Oracle Clinical are:...
- Oracle OpenWorldOracle OpenWorldOracle OpenWorld is an annual Oracle event for business decision-makers, IT management, and line-of-business end users. It is held in San Francisco, California; São Paulo, Brazil; and Shanghai, China. The world's largest conference for Oracle customers and technologists, Oracle OpenWorld San...
(cf MIX Conference) - Oracle Technology NetworkOracle Technology Networkis Oracle Corporation's official, interactive online/offline community for Oracle technical professionals. It professes to be the world's largest online community of developers, DBAs, and architects using Oracle products and computer-industry-standard technologies...
- Oracle Enterprise LinuxOracle Enterprise LinuxOracle Linux, formerly known as Oracle Enterprise Linux, is a Red Hat Enterprise Linux-compatible distribution, repackaged and sold by Oracle, available under the GNU General Public License since late 2006....
- Oracle User GroupOracle User GroupAn Oracle User Group is a private, generally non-profit or not-for-profit organization that provides support and education for users of Oracle Corporation technology, particularly for professional users, however student user groups have also been established....
External links
- The Oracle Corporation website
- Oracle Technology Network
- "Oracle's Transformation" a 2007 speech by Larry Ellison
- Oracle Auto Service Request (ASR)