Larry Ellison is an American businessperson and is one of the wealthiest people in the world. He is chairperson, chief technology officer, and co-founder of Oracle, an integrated cloud applications and platform services company based in Austin, Texas. The company sells cloud-based tools to store and analyze data and information as well as software, hardware, and other technology applications. The company was founded in 1977 after Ellison discovered there was a growing need for database management systems. Just two years later, the company introduced its own database management system, finally answering the question of how technology could help companies manage large amounts of data and information.
Oracle has always had a reputation for introducing new products before competitors. It developed the first clientserver database, the first media server to support video on demand, and the first internet development suite, among others. The company’s goal has always been to help its business customers collect, store, update, process, and present data—the five management information system functions described in this chapter. Now, according to Ellison, Oracle’s databases manage most of the world’s data with more than 430,000 customers in 175 countries. “We are the dominant database supplier on the planet Earth,” Ellison said on a recent earning’s call. He went on to say, “we’re bigger than IBM and Microsoft combined” when it comes to total database revenues.
Oracle competes with companies such as technology giants IBM, Microsoft, and Amazon Web Service (AWS), which offer similar cloud databases and other cloud-based services. Though Oracle admittedly took longer than its competitors to take its database to the cloud, Ellison believes its systems are now more secure and more affordable than other available systems. In fact, Ellison plans to win the cloud wars by competing on price, quality, and security.
Lower pricing for Oracle’s products that are recognized for quality helps Oracle win new customers. According to Oracle, its cloud infrastructure, for example, is consistently less expensive than Amazon Web Services. The method used to price some products also helps Oracle win new customers.
Customers who use Oracle’s Fast Connect infrastructure, which transfers information from customer data centers to the cloud through private connections, pay fixed monthly charges. The fixed charge means that their customers have a predictable monthly bill compared to AWS customers who are billed based on data transfer activity.
To keep a leg up on the competition, Oracle invests heavily in research and development (R&D), which generates world-class technologies. The company has spent $56 billion on R&D since 2012 and an additional $80 billion on acquisitions of companies that had promising ideas or products that fit with Oracle’s product mix. Its R&D activities are constantly finding ways to introduce new or improve existing products that can satisfy customer needs. For instance, Oracle created the world’s first autonomous database. The product, Oracle Autonomous Linux, serves to reduce maintenance and downtime and at the same time increase security.
Before Oracle’s new product was introduced, companies that attempted to take their large workloads to the cloud experienced high costs and security concerns. When Oracle Autonomous Linux was introduced, the company had thousands of customers waiting in the wings for the product to be deployed in addition to thousands more who signed up for product demonstrations.
The company has also made significant investments in security all the way down to the chip level to reduce concerns of advanced and persistent threats that use sophisticated hacking techniques to steal data. Its products have layered security defenses and controls such as security zones, data encryption, and firewalls. This security-first approach builds trust among Oracle customers. One of the major selling points of its autonomous database is that it eliminates human error while improving cybersecurity.
A culture of innovation has fueled Oracle since day one.
Ellison is competitive by nature and will do what it takes to build the best cloud management system and technology products possible. Introducing new and innovative products that are recognized for their quality, pricing its products competitively, and taking a security-first approach make Oracle a leader in cloud computing.

Discussion Questions
1. While Oracle is a recognized giant in the technology world, it competes with other successful companies including IBM, Microsoft, and Amazon Web Services.
Describe the three factors that Larry Ellison plans to use to win the technology wars.
2. Although Oracle is successful, it continues to invest in research and development and acquire other companies that have promising ideas or products that complement Oracle’s product mix. Explain why you think continued research and development and acquisitions are important for Oracle’s future growth.
3. How important is protection from hackers and computer security for a technology company like Oracle? What steps is Oracle taking to protect information stored in its cloud-based database and technology products?