Editing Oracle Corporation (section)

==Marketing==

===Sales practices===
In 1990, Oracle laid off 10% (about 400 people) of its work force because of accounting errors.<ref name="zdnet200620" /> 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.<ref>{{Cite news |last=Abelson |first=Ree |date=June 23, 1996 |title=Truth or Consequences? Hardly |work=The New York Times |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1996/06/23/business/truth-or-consequences-hardly.html}}</ref> 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 action|class-action]] lawsuits arising from its having overstated its earnings. Ellison stated in 1992 that Oracle had made "an incredible business mistake".<ref name="zdnet200620">[http://www.zdnetasia.com/news/software/0,39044164,39048963,00.htm Oracle cuts rewards for last-minute deals ] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20081219065933/http://www.zdnetasia.com/news/software/0,39044164,39048963,00.htm |date=December 19, 2008 }} Gilbert, Alorie (June 20, 2002). ''CNET News.com'' via zdnetasia.com</ref>

===Competition===
In 1994, [[Informix Corporation|Informix]] 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.<ref>{{cite web |last=Galante |first=Suzanne |date=June 9, 1997 |title=Informix drops Oracle lawsuit |url=http://news.cnet.com/Informix-drops-Oracle-lawsuit/2100-1023_3-200353.html |website=CNET}}</ref> In November 2005, a book detailing the war between Oracle and Informix was published, titled ''The Real Story of Informix Software and Phil White''. It gave 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 the use of [[Microsoft SQL Server]] became widespread in the late 1990s and IBM acquired Informix Software in 2001 (to complement its Db2 database). {{As of|2008|alt= Today}} Oracle competes for new database licenses on UNIX, GNU, and Windows operating systems primarily against IBM's Db2 and Microsoft SQL Server. IBM's Db2 {{As of|2008|alt= still}} dominates the mainframe database market.

In 2004, Oracle's sales grew at a rate of 14.5% to $6.2&nbsp;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.<ref name="Oracle.com">{{cite web |date=September 7, 2010 |title=Infrastructure &#124; Oracle Analyst Reports |url=http://www.oracle.com/corporate/analyst/reports/infrastructure/dbms/idc-201692.pdf |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20081031164300/http://www.oracle.com/corporate/analyst/reports/infrastructure/dbms/idc-201692.pdf |archive-date=October 31, 2008 |access-date=July 7, 2011 |publisher=Oracle.com}}</ref>
Oracle Corporation's main competitors in the database arena remain [[IBM Db2]] and [[Microsoft SQL Server]], and to a lesser extent [[Sybase]] and [[Teradata]],<ref name="Oracle.com" /> with [[free software|free]] databases such as [[PostgreSQL]] and [[MySQL]] also having a significant<ref>[http://db-engines.com/en/ranking DB-Engines Ranking - popularity ranking of database management systems]. Db-engines. Retrieved July 14, 2013.</ref> share of the market. [[EnterpriseDB]], based on PostgreSQL, has {{As of|2008|alt= recently}} made inroads<ref>{{cite web |last=Lai |first=Eric |date=November 20, 2006 |title=Vonage places call for EnterpriseDB database |url=http://www.computerworld.com/action/article.do?command=viewArticleBasic&taxonomyName=networking&articleId=9005227&taxonomyId=16 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070527080045/http://www.computerworld.com/action/article.do?command=viewArticleBasic&taxonomyName=networking&articleId=9005227&taxonomyId=16 |archive-date=May 27, 2007 |website=Computerworld |df=mdy-all}}</ref> by proclaiming that its product delivers Oracle compatibility features{{Clarify|date=February 2009}} at a much lower price-point.

In the software-applications market, Oracle Corporation primarily<ref>{{cite web |last=Pang |first=Albert |date=2021-12-24 |title=Top 10 ERP Software Vendors, Market Size and Market Forecast 2020-2025 |url=https://www.appsruntheworld.com/top-10-erp-software-vendors-and-market-forecast/ |access-date=2022-07-11 |website=Apps Run The World |language=en-US}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |last=Pang |first=Albert |date=2021-12-24 |title=Top 10 Utilities Software Vendors, Market Size and Market Forecast 2020-2025 |url=https://www.appsruntheworld.com/top-10-utilities-software-vendors-and-market-forecast/ |access-date=2022-07-11 |website=Apps Run The World |language=en-US}}</ref> competes against [[SAP AG|SAP]]. On March 22, 2007, [[Oracle Corp. v. SAP AG|Oracle sued SAP]], accusing them of fraud and unfair competition.<ref>{{Cite news |last1=Gullo |first1=Karen |last2=Guglielmo |first2=Connie |name-list-style=amp |date=March 22, 2007 |title=Oracle Claims Rival SAP Stole Software and Data (Update4) |work=[[Bloomberg L.P.|Bloomberg]] |url=https://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601087&sid=atMLL7_FAEkw |access-date=March 22, 2007}}</ref>

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 Corporation|Actuate]], and [[SAS Institute Inc.|SAS]].<ref>{{cite web |last=Pendse |first=Nigel |date=March 7, 2008 |title=Consolidations in the BI industry |url=http://www.bi-verdict.com/fileadmin/FreeAnalyses/consolidations.htm |website=The OLAP Report}}</ref>

Oracle Financials was ranked in the Top 20 Most Popular Accounting Software Infographic by Capterra in 2014, beating out SAP and a number of their other competitors.<ref>{{cite web |title=Best Donation Management Software - 2015 Reviews of the Most Popular Systems |url=http://nonprofit-software.com/ |access-date=April 17, 2015}}</ref>

====Oracle and SAP====
From 1988, Oracle Corporation and the German company [[SAP AG]] had a decade-long history of cooperation, beginning with the integration of SAP's [[SAP R/3|R/3]] enterprise application suite with Oracle's relational database products. Despite the 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.<ref>{{cite web |title=Oracle – the No.1 Database for Deploying SAP Applications |url=http://www.oracle.com/newsletters/sap/index.html |access-date=November 11, 2008 |publisher=Oracle Corporation |quote=Two thirds of SAP customers around the world, in every industry, choose to run their applications on Oracle databases.}}</ref>

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 with those of [[PeopleSoft]], [[Siebel Systems]] and [[Hyperion Solutions|Hyperion]].

SAP recognized that Oracle had started to become a competitor in a markets 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"),<ref>{{Cite press release |title=Oracle Helping SAP Customers to get 'OFF SAP' |date=June 14, 2005 |publisher=Oracle Corporation |url=http://www.oracle.com/corporate/press/2005_jun/sap.html}}</ref> and also by providing special discounts on licenses and services to SAP customers who chose Oracle Corporation products.

{{As of|2008|alt=Currently}} 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.<ref>{{cite web |date=July 3, 2007 |title=Oracle sues SAP |url=http://www.oracle.com/sapsuit |publisher=Oracle Corporation}}</ref> 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.<ref>{{Cite journal |last1=Gohring |first1=Nancy |last2=Montalbano |first2=Elizabeth |title=Maintenance Contracts at Heart of Oracle, SAP Dispute |url=http://www.cio.in/news/viewArticle/ARTICLEID=3017 |journal=CIO India |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080519024115/http://www.cio.in/news/viewArticle/ARTICLEID=3017 |archive-date=May 19, 2008 |access-date=June 9, 2008}}

[http://blogs.zdnet.com/Greenbaum/?p=105 The lawsuit As barometer: SAP finally scores big with TomorrowNow ] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070327081752/http://blogs.zdnet.com/Greenbaum/?p=105 |date=March 27, 2007 }} Joshua Greenbaum, March 22, 2007, ZDNet</ref><ref>{{Cite web |last=steve.curtis@supportrevolution.com |date=2020-09-23 |title=Oracle & SAP are waging a secret war against third-party support |url=https://www.supportrevolution.com/oracle-sap-secret-support-war/ |access-date=2023-06-08 |website=Support Revolution |language=en-GB}}</ref>

On July 3, 2007, SAP admitted that TomorrowNow employees had made "inappropriate downloads" from the Oracle support website. 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.<ref>{{Cite press release |title=SAP Responds to Oracle Complaint |date=July 3, 2007 |publisher=SAP |url=http://www.tnlawsuit.com/uploads/pdf/pressrelease/pressrelease_ResponsetoOracleComplaint.pdf |access-date=September 2, 2016 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090326201734/http://www.tnlawsuit.com/uploads/pdf/pressrelease/pressrelease_ResponsetoOracleComplaint.pdf |archive-date=March 26, 2009}}</ref>

On November 23, 2010, a [[United States District Court for the Northern District of California|U.S. district court]] jury in [[Oakland, California]], found that SAP AG must pay Oracle Corp $1.3&nbsp;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&nbsp;million, while Oracle claimed that they are at least $1.65&nbsp;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.<ref>{{Cite news |last=Levine |first=Dan |date=November 23, 2010 |title=SAP to pay Oracle $1.3&nbsp;billion in landmark decision |work=Reuters |url=https://www.reuters.com/article/idUSTRE6AL4IN20101124 |access-date=November 23, 2010}}</ref> On September 1, 2011, a federal judge overturned the judgment and offered a reduced amount or a new trial, calling Oracle's original award "grossly" excessive.<ref>{{cite web |date=September 1, 2011 |title=Judge overturns Oracle's $1.3B award against SAP |url=http://www.itworld.com/it-managementstrategy/199445/bulletin-judge-overturns-oracles-13b-award-against-sap |access-date=September 5, 2011 |website=[[ITworld]]}}</ref> Oracle chose a new trial.

On August 3, 2012, SAP and Oracle agreed on a judgment for $306 million in damages, pending approval from the U.S. district court judge, "to save time and expense of [a] new trial". After the accord has been approved, Oracle can ask a federal appeals court to reinstate the earlier jury verdict. In addition to the damages payment, SAP has already paid Oracle $120 million for its legal fees.<ref>{{Cite news |date=August 3, 2012 |title=Oracle Says SAP to Pay $306 Million in Copyright Deal |work=Bloomberg BusinessWeek |url=http://www.businessweek.com/news/2012-08-02/oracle-says-sap-to-pay-306-million-in-copyright-deal |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120803200435/http://www.businessweek.com/news/2012-08-02/oracle-says-sap-to-pay-306-million-in-copyright-deal |archive-date=August 3, 2012 |access-date=August 6, 2012}}</ref>

===Slogans===
* "Information driven"<ref>{{cite web |last=Aryal |first=Mina |date=2015-05-24 |title=Best Slogans of Information Technology Companies |url=https://ictframe.com/slogans-of-it-companies/ |access-date=2019-01-19 |website=ICT Frame Technology |language=en-US}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |date=2014-06-12 |title=A List of 120+ Slogans of Information Technology Companies |url=https://advergize.com/marketing/120-list-of-slogans-from-information-technology-companies/ |access-date=2019-01-19 |website=Advergize |language=en-US}}</ref>
* For the Oracle Database: "Can't break it, can't break in"<ref>{{cite web |last=Lemos |first=Robert |date=February 6, 2002 |title=Guru says Oracle's 9i is indeed breakable |url=http://news.cnet.com/2100-1001-831142.html |access-date=October 5, 2011 |publisher=CNET News}}</ref> and "Unbreakable"<ref>{{cite web |last=Davidson |first=Mary Ann |author-link=Mary Ann Davidson |date=February 2002 |title=Unbreakable: Oracle's Commitment to Security |url=http://www.cgisecurity.com/database/oracle/pdf/unbreak3.pdf |access-date=March 21, 2010 |series=An Oracle White Paper |publisher=Oracle Corporation |location=Redwood Shores, California |page=2 |quote=Beginning in November 2001, Oracle began a marketing campaign: Unbreakable. The security portions of the campaign reference Oracle's 14 independent security evaluations [...]}}</ref>
* "Enabling the Information Age"<ref>{{Cite journal |date=September 15, 1997 |title=Oracle8 Database Messaging |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=bQYAAAAAMBAJ&q=oracle+enabling+the+information+age&pg=PA7 |journal=CIO |volume=10 |issue=21 |page=7}}</ref>
* "Enabling the Information Age Through Network Computing"<ref>{{cite web |title=Oracle Discoverer User Guide |url=http://gkmc.utah.edu/ebis_class/2003s/Oracle/DISCVR31/USER/titlcpy.htm |access-date=2019-01-19 |website=gkmc.utah.edu |archive-date=August 6, 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200806022056/http://gkmc.utah.edu/ebis_class/2003s/Oracle/DISCVR31/USER/titlcpy.htm }}</ref><ref>{{Cite book |last=Hummeltenberg |first=Wilhelm |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=2wjKBgAAQBAJ&q=%22Enabling+the+Information+Age+Through+Network+Computing%22&pg=PA201 |title=Information Management for Business and Competitive Intelligence and Excellence: Proceedings der Frühjahrstagung Wirtschaftsinformatik '98 |date=2013-04-09 |publisher=Springer-Verlag |isbn=978-3-322-84950-2 |language=de}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |title=Developer/2000 Guidelines for Building Applications |url=http://sqltech.cl/doc/dev2000/guide21/gd21titl.htm |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190418024953/http://sqltech.cl/doc/dev2000/guide21/gd21titl.htm |archive-date=18 April 2019 |access-date=5 August 2020}}</ref>
* {{As of| 2008 | alt = As of 2008}}: "The Information Company"<ref>{{Cite news |last=Farber |first=Dan |date=December 9, 2004 |title=Oracle joins or refashions the information age |work=ZDNet |url=https://www.zdnet.com/article/oracle-joins-or-refashions-the-information-age/ |access-date=October 9, 2014}}</ref>
* As of 2010: "Software. Hardware. Complete."<ref>{{cite web |date=2010-07-14 |title=Oracles introduces new 10GbE products. Software. Hardware. Complete? |url=https://www.ecnmag.com/news/2010/07/oracles-introduces-new-10gbe-products-software-hardware-complete |access-date=2019-01-19 |website=Electronic Component News |publisher=Yankee Group |language=en |archive-date=February 19, 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210219152627/http://www.eeworldonline.com/news/2010/07/oracles-introduces-new-10gbe-products-software-hardware-complete }}</ref>
* As of late 2010: "Hardware and Software, Engineered to Work Together"<ref>{{cite web |date=2012-09-26 |title=Oracle Engineered Systems-The Newest Flavor of IT Systems |url=http://www.dbta.com/Editorial/Think-About-It/Oracle-Engineered-Systems-The-Newest-Flavor-of-IT-Systems-84891.aspx |access-date=2019-01-19 |website=Database Trends and Applications |language=en-US}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |date=July 17, 2014 |title=Hardware and Software, Engineered to Work Together |url=http://www.oracle.com/us/assets/openworld-march2014-2245394.pdf |access-date=January 19, 2019}}</ref>
* As of mid 2015: "Integrated Cloud Applications and Platform Services"<ref>{{cite web |title=Oracle Brand {{!}} Oracle Tagline Lockup |url=https://www.oracle.com/webfolder/s/brand/identity/tagline-lockup/index.html |access-date=2019-01-19 |website=www.oracle.com}}</ref>

===Media===
Oracle Corporation produces and distributes the "Oracle ClearView" series of videos as part of its marketing mix.<ref>{{cite web |date=January 7, 2009 |title=Executive Strategy Weekly Edition |url=http://www.oracle.com/us/corporate/newsletter/executive-strategy-weekly/jan-07-09-index-168912.html |access-date=September 21, 2009 |website=Oracle Information inDepth Newsletters |publisher=Oracle Corporation |quote=In the first installment of the Oracle ClearView video series, host Richard Levitt explains how Oracle Exadata—the combination of superfast HP hardware and supersmart Oracle software—is bringing powerful benefits to the enterprise.}}</ref>