What Is Oracle? Definition, Products, History and Services

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Oracle, Oracle Database, Oracle Cloud Infrastructure (OCI), Oracle Fusion Cloud ERP, Oracle Fusion Cloud HCM, NetSuite, MySQL, Java and related product names are trademarks of Oracle Corporation. This page is informational and is not affiliated with or endorsed by Oracle.

Oracle Definition

Oracle is short for Oracle Corporation, a multinational technology company that builds database software, cloud infrastructure, enterprise applications and developer tools used by large and mid-sized organisations around the world. The same word, Oracle, is also used as a short name for Oracle Database, the company’s flagship relational database product, first released in 1979. In most business conversations, the speaker means one of these two: the company, or the database.

Oracle at a Glance

• Founders: Larry Ellison, Bob Miner and Ed Oates.
• Founded: 1977, originally as Software Development Laboratories. Renamed Oracle Systems Corporation in 1982 and Oracle Corporation in 1995.
• Headquarters: Austin, Texas, United States. The company relocated from Redwood Shores, California in 2020.
• Current CEO: Safra Catz.
• Founder and CTO: Larry Ellison.
• Listing: New York Stock Exchange, ticker ORCL.
• Employees: Approximately 160,000 worldwide.
• Annual revenue: More than 50 billion US dollars, with cloud revenue growing as a share each year.

Major Oracle Products and Services

Oracle’s portfolio is organised around four broad areas: databases, cloud infrastructure, enterprise applications and developer tools and runtimes.

Databases

• Oracle Database: the company’s flagship relational database management system (RDBMS). Editions include Express (free entry-level), Standard, Enterprise, and Personal. Used to store, query, and manage business-critical data.
• Oracle Autonomous Database: a self-driving, self-securing and self-repairing cloud database that automates patching, tuning and backups.
• MySQL: an open-source relational database acquired through the Sun Microsystems acquisition in 2010. Widely used in web applications.
• Oracle Exadata: a database machine that combines Oracle hardware and software to run the Oracle Database at high speed.

Cloud Infrastructure

• Oracle Cloud Infrastructure (OCI): Oracle’s public cloud, offering Infrastructure as a Service (IaaS), Platform as a Service (PaaS) and Software as a Service (SaaS).
• OCI Generative AI Services: cloud services for building and deploying generative artificial intelligence (AI) applications.
• Oracle Container Engine for Kubernetes (OKE): managed Kubernetes service running on OCI.
• Oracle Cloud at Customer: brings OCI into the customer’s own data centre for data-sensitive workloads.

Enterprise Applications

• Oracle Fusion Cloud ERP: cloud Enterprise Resource Planning suite covering finance, procurement, project management and risk.
• Oracle Fusion Cloud HCM: cloud Human Capital Management suite for recruiting, onboarding, performance, learning, payroll and retirement.
• Oracle Fusion Cloud SCM: cloud Supply Chain and Manufacturing suite.
• Oracle Fusion Cloud CX: cloud Customer Experience suite covering sales, service, marketing and commerce.
• Oracle NetSuite: cloud ERP and business management for small and mid-sized businesses, acquired in 2016.
• Legacy on-premise applications: Oracle E-Business Suite, PeopleSoft, JD Edwards EnterpriseOne, Hyperion and Siebel CRM, still used by many enterprises.

Developer Tools and Runtimes

• Java: one of the most widely used programming languages in the world, acquired with Sun Microsystems in 2010.
• Oracle Linux: an enterprise Linux distribution.
• Oracle GraalVM: a high-performance Java Development Kit (JDK) with support for multiple languages.
• Oracle APEX: a low-code development platform for building data-driven applications on Oracle Database.

Industries Where Oracle Is Widely Used

• Banking, financial services and insurance: core banking, risk and compliance.
• Telecommunications: subscriber management, billing and network analytics.
• Healthcare: electronic health records, especially after the Cerner acquisition in 2022.
• Government and public sector: tax, treasury and citizen services.
• Retail: merchandising, supply chain and point-of-sale systems.
• Manufacturing: ERP, supply chain and operations.
• Higher education and research: PeopleSoft Campus Solutions and research data platforms.

Oracle vs. Its Main Competitors

Oracle competes across several product categories. In databases, it competes with Microsoft SQL Server, IBM Db2, PostgreSQL and MySQL itself. In cloud infrastructure, it competes with Amazon Web Services (AWS), Microsoft Azure, Google Cloud Platform (GCP) and IBM Cloud. In enterprise applications, it competes with SAP for ERP, Workday and SAP SuccessFactors for HCM, and Salesforce for CRM and customer experience. NetSuite competes with Sage, Microsoft Dynamics 365 Business Central and Zoho.

A Short History of Oracle Corporation

• 1977: Larry Ellison, Bob Miner and Ed Oates founded Software Development Laboratories in California.
• 1979: The company released Oracle, the first commercial relational database to use Structured Query Language (SQL).
• 1982: Renamed Oracle Systems Corporation, after its flagship product.
• 1986: Oracle held its initial public offering on the NASDAQ stock exchange.
• 2005: Acquired PeopleSoft for around 10.3 billion US dollars, bringing JD Edwards into the portfolio.
• 2007: Acquired Hyperion for around 3.3 billion US dollars to strengthen enterprise performance management.
• 2008: Acquired BEA Systems to expand middleware capabilities.
• 2010: Acquired Sun Microsystems for around 7.4 billion US dollars, gaining MySQL, Java, Solaris and SPARC.
• 2016: Acquired NetSuite for around 9.3 billion US dollars.
• 2020: Relocated headquarters from Redwood Shores, California to Austin, Texas.
• 2022: Completed the acquisition of Cerner, the healthcare records company, for around 28 billion US dollars. This is Oracle’s largest acquisition to date.
• 2023–2024: Announced major investments in generative AI across Fusion Cloud applications, released Oracle Database 23ai, and expanded OCI globally.

How Oracle Connects to Workforce and Operations Analytics

Many large enterprises run their core people processes on Oracle Fusion Cloud HCM or PeopleSoft, and their finance and supply chain on Oracle Fusion Cloud ERP or Oracle E-Business Suite. ProHance complements these systems by adding a real-time view of how work is actually happening across teams. Work hours, application usage, idle time, productivity by process and shift, asset utilisation and engagement signals are captured at a workforce level and can be used alongside Oracle HCM and ERP data to make better decisions about staffing, cost of delivery and operational risk. Book a demo to see how ProHance can sit alongside your Oracle landscape.

Frequently Asked Questions

Q1. Who owns Oracle?

Oracle Corporation is a publicly listed company on the New York Stock Exchange (ticker ORCL). The largest single shareholder is co-founder Larry Ellison, who serves as Chairman and Chief Technology Officer.

Q2. Who is the CEO of Oracle?

Safra Catz is the Chief Executive Officer of Oracle Corporation.

Q3. When was Oracle founded?

Oracle was founded in 1977 by Larry Ellison, Bob Miner and Ed Oates under the name Software Development Laboratories.

Q4. What is Oracle used for?

Oracle products are used to store and manage business data, run enterprise applications such as ERP and HCM, host workloads in the cloud through OCI, and build software in languages such as Java. Most large banks, telecom companies, governments and healthcare providers use one or more Oracle products.

Q5. What is the full form of Oracle?

Oracle is not an acronym. It is the name given by the founders to their flagship product, inspired by a CIA project codenamed Oracle on which they had worked. The company was later renamed after the product.

Q6. Is Oracle a database or a company?

Both. Oracle Corporation is the company. Oracle Database is the company’s flagship product. In day-to-day usage, the word Oracle can mean either, and the context usually makes it clear.

Q7. What are the main products of Oracle?

Oracle Database, Oracle Cloud Infrastructure (OCI), Oracle Fusion Cloud ERP, Oracle Fusion Cloud HCM, Oracle Fusion Cloud SCM, Oracle Fusion Cloud CX, NetSuite, MySQL, Java, Oracle Linux and Oracle APEX.

Q8. Who are Oracle’s main competitors?

Oracle competes with Microsoft, AWS, Google Cloud and IBM in cloud and databases, with SAP and Workday in enterprise applications, and with Salesforce in customer experience.

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