Leading Research Firm Recognizes Oracle as Leader in Worldwide Embedded Database Management System Vendor Share

According to market research firm IDC, Oracle is the overall leader in the worldwide embedded database management system (DBMS) software sector.

IDC states in its latest report, "Worldwide Embedded DBMS 2007-2011 Forecast and 2006 Vendor Shares," that Oracle's 23.2 percent of worldwide embedded DBMS software revenue by vendor surpasses the next closest vendor with 14.1 percent. Additionally, IDC notes that Oracle achieved an annual growth rate of 23.3 percent, almost double the 11.7 percent growth rate for the industry as a whole. IDC defines embedded DBMSs as database management systems sold to independent software vendors and used as components within larger software or hardware products. IDC also notes that embedded DBMSs are typically optimized for performance and small footprint and have management functions that are handled automatically by either the database or application.

"As the world market leading provider of relational DBMS software, Oracle has been increasing its attention in the embedded DBMS market in recent years," said Carl W. Olofson, Research Vice President Application Development and Deployment, IDC. "From 2004-2006, Oracle showed strong revenue growth in its embedded DBMS products. As they continue with strong investments in this space, large RDBMS vendors such as Oracle are likely to continue to grow ahead of the market during the next five years."

"Oracle sees a growing need for databases that are embedded within our partners' applications and devices, running in the data center, in the network, at the edge and in the mobile environment," said Rex Wang, vice president Embedded Systems Marketing, Oracle. "By embedding Oracle databases, partners can deliver more complete solutions faster and at lower cost. Oracle is fully committed to serving the needs of embedded
developers."

Oracle offers developers building embedded systems the industry's broadest selection of world-class embeddable database products to meet their specific application requirements, including:

-- Oracle Database -- for advanced relational database features in an
embeddable package;
-- Oracle TimesTen -- for real-time, in-memory relational data management
and caching;
-- Oracle Berkeley DB -- for high performance, non-relational data
management; and
-- Oracle Database Lite -- for online/offline mobile relational data
management.

Requiring virtually no human administration, these products are ideal for developers in industries such as telecommunications and high technology, which have demanding requirements for intelligent edge devices and services.

For a complimentary copy of IDC's "Worldwide Embedded DBMS 2007-2011 Forecast and 2006 Vendor Shares" report, visit:
http://www.oracle.com/corporate/analyst/reports/infrastructure/dbms/idc-209653.pdf

Source: www.prnewswire.com

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Oracle Hangs a Solid Q2 on a Thick Neck

Positive second-quarter earnings can be attributed largely to Oracle's acquisition strategy—42 companies in less than four years—and customer demand for "one throat to choke."

Oracle surprised Wall Street analysts and investors Dec. 20 by reporting better than expected fiscal second-quarter 2008 earnings, particularly in the area of software license revenue, much of which can be attributed to the fact that its acquisition strategy is finally paying off.

Oracle announced Dec. 20 that its earnings were up 35 percent to $1.3 billion and revenues were up 28 percent to $5.3 billion. Even more telling for Oracle's acquisition strategy, whidh has seen the company acquire 42 companies in just about as many months, software license revenues were up 29 percent to $4.2 billion, while new software license revenues were up 38 percent to $1.7 billion.

"The strength of the quarter comes down to the fact that we are selling more products to more customers in more industries," said Oracle Chief Financial Officer Safra Catz during the company's second-quarter conference call with analysts.

It is a sign, analysts and customers said, that buyers are looking for a single vendor—one throat to choke.

"Regardless of role, all the companies seem to appreciate the potential upside of the Oracle strategy," Bill Swanton and Lee Geishecker of AMR Research said in a November research note titled, "Oracle's Application Strategy—What's Your Five-Year Plan?"

"In fact, once Oracle accounts for over half of their enterprise applications footprint, most companies adopt an Oracle-first policy of seeing if Oracle's product meets their needs before investigating other vendors. They like the idea of single-vendor responsibility," Swanton and Geishecker wrote.

In its "Midsize Enterprise ERP Spending Report, 2007-2008," AMR Research found that 48 percent of midsized companies will increase their enterprise resource planning budgets by an average of 5.1 percent in 2008. That increase in spending will be driven in part by a desire to have a broad spectrum of functionality delivered from a single software vendor, the report said—a finding that ties nicely into the acquisitions that Oracle has been making.

In a Dec. 19 research note, Goldman Sachs analysts Sarah Friar, Derek Bingham and Frederick Grieb wrote that Oracle turned in a "highly impressive" second fiscal quarter, beating estimates on both applications and technology revenues. The reason, they said, is Oracle's acquisition strategy is paying off.

"Oracle continues to execute on its consolidation strategy, which has afforded it an expansive product set, greater account control and tremendous cross-selling opportunities, as well as a recurring engine of maintenance revenue," the analysts wrote. "While many investors believe Oracle's acquisition strategy is now limited by the number of targets available, we do not agree. The software landscape remains fragmented with opportunities springing up in newer areas such as software as a service. A tougher economy might only abet Oracle's strategy by lowering valuations and creating more motivated sellers."

Existing customers agree that Oracle's acquisition strategy is working, for a couple of reasons. The first is the "one throat to choke" theory, which is becoming more of a reality as Oracle acquires more companies. The second is that Oracle has realized the integration nightmare brought on by acquiring 21 application companies since 2005; while the actual product is not yet a reality, Oracle announced in April it would take on integration for its customers with its AIA (Application Integration Architecture).

Author: Renee Boucher Ferguson @ www.eweek.com

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Oracle VP Mike Betzer: The Mainstream Is Waking Up to CRM

"More companies are realizing [CRM] is more than ever before relevant to their businesses. There is more competition than ever before, and companies are trying to figure out how to make customer loyal. They know they need a good CRM foundation to do that," said Mike Betzer, vice president of CRM Strategy at Oracle.

Mike Betzer was working for MCI several years ago when he realized that if the company could use the Internet Over 800,000 High Quality Domains Available For Your Business. Click Here. as a front end, it could leverage the software in the data center and develop a network-based application that could be sold to other companies doing essentially the same thing that MCI did in-house.

As it happened MCI, in the midst of being acquired at the time, was in no position to develop such a new business strategy. Betzer though, for his part, went on to launch Ineto Services, a firm that provided hosted telephony infrastructure. He jumped into, in short, a trend that would come to dominate the CRM space in a few short years.

Later Ineto was folded into Siebel as the then-CRM giant began its push to develop its own on-demand strategy, of which Ineto would play a key part. Siebel, in turn, was acquired by Oracle (Nasdaq: ORCL) Latest News about Oracle a few years later.

Betzer's view of CRM has since evolved. For one -- not surprisingly -- he embraces Oracle's hybrid approach to CRM deployment, which includes both the on demand and on presence models. Betzer's prescience on trends in the CRM space, meanwhile, appear to be as sharp as ever. CRM Buyer caught up with Betzer to talk about where he sees CRM heading next, and how Oracle intends to stay on top of the trends.
Competition Ahead

CRM Buyer: Let's start with 2008. What do you think will be the big CRM story for the year?

Betzer: I think it will be a continuation of what has been quietly happening over the last several months and few years: a resurgence of CRM. More companies are realizing it is more than ever before relevant to their businesses. There is more competition than ever before, and companies are trying to figure out how to make customer loyal. They know they need a good CRM foundation to do that.

CRM Buyer: They didn't know this before?

Betzer: Of course they always knew that, but it is becoming easier all the time for a customer to switch from one service provider to another, from Verizon (NYSE: VZ) Latest News about Verizon, say, to AT&T (NYSE: T) Latest News about AT&T or from Home Depot (NYSE: HD) Latest News about Home Depot, for example, to Lowes.

CRM Buyer: I have to tell you, I am not sure how CRM can stop a consumer from switching from one service provider to another in a lot of situations. Most people, myself included, switch providers for a lot of reasons no matter how long they have been there, usually either because they are annoyed at the service or they like a phone offered by a competitor. And the Lowes versus Home Depot decision? Those stores are so commoditized now that people shop at the most convenient one.

Betzer: What you say is [about product commodization] true, which is why CRM is being viewed as the factor that can push a consumer from just shopping at the most convenient site to seeking out a company where he or she has had a good experience.

For instance, consider Dell (Nasdaq: DELL) Latest News about Dell. It developed a supply chain model that it thought it could ride to dominate the PC space -- until HP (NYSE: HPQ) Latest News about Hewlett-Packard copied that model. So consumers can buy from either Dell or HP, they don't care which one. But they will care which firm knows the consumer better and serves the consumer better. The way to do that is tie all the channels together and develop a master database of customer records. Developing a single source of truth on the consumer. Analytics as well is becoming increasingly important.
Oracle's Acquisitions

CRM Buyer: Can we talk about what is happening at Oracle and its strategy for CRM? How is it leveraging its acquisitions, PeopleSoft, Siebel namely, to build a better product?

Betzer: We are pulling the best from the different applications. PeopleSoft, for instance, cracked the code for the higher education vertical and figured out the right way to deploy and deliver software in that space. It did a fantastic job so we are leveraging that vertical instead of Siebel's.

In other cases we are blending the products. Siebel's field service Latest News about field service application was focused on a service person in a truck. Oracle's was about moving products through a supply chain. We are leveraging both and blending them together.

CRM Buyer: What can we expect to see from Oracle next year, in terms of CRM that is?

Betzer: More blending of sales, service and analytics to allow companies to make smart decisions faster and sell better. For instance, you own a Mac and several iPods. Conceivably an Apple (Nasdaq: AAPL) Latest News about Apple salesperson should have you on his radar, reaching out to you about new devices or related products that you might want. That is what we are focusing on -- allowing that sales person to leverage the knowledge about the customer that sits somewhere within the organization.

We also will be bringing more self-service Latest News about self-service capabilities to the application. Also, loyalty is another focus area for us. Up until recently most in the industry have gotten loyalty wrong -- they think of it only as a marketing E-Mail Marketing Software - Free Trial. Click Here. campaign. But it is not so one dimensional -- you have to leverage sales and service as well, just like the airlines have done with their loyalty campaigns. Airline miles, in fact, is one of the greatest loyalty campaign examples of all time. We want to apply those lessons in other areas now.

Author: Erika Morphy @ www.crmbuyer.com

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