Oracle

This snapshot deals with Oracle, the US software giant that rivals Microsoft.

It covers -

• introduction
• the enterprise
• key figures
• studies

     introduction

[under development]

     the enterprise

Oracle was established in 1978 by two IBM relational database system experts. Initial growth involved software that permitted machines of different sizes and from different manufacturers to run a standardised database management system encompassing financial and process management, inventory and purchasing activity. Annual sales reached US$2 billion in 1994 after release of the Oracle 7 product.

     studies

Founder Larry Ellison was portrayed by Mike Wilson in The Difference between God & Larry Ellison: Inside Oracle Corporation (New York: Morrow 1997) and in The Proving Ground (London: 4th Estate 2001) by Bruce Knecht.

They are placed in context by the more insightful 1995 Development and Structure of the International Software Industry, 1950-1990 (PDF) by Martin Campbell-Kelly and The International Computer Software Industry: A Comparative Study of Industry Evolution & Structure (Oxford: Oxford Uni Press 1995) edited by David Mowery.




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