Oracle Database is available by several service providers on-premises, on-cloud, or as a hybrid cloud installation.

[6] Larry Ellison and his two friends and former co-workers, Bob Miner and Ed Oates, started a consultancy called Software Development Laboratories (SDL) in 1977.

The name Oracle comes from the code-name of a CIA-funded project Ellison had worked on while formerly employed by Ampex.

[34] RUs usually contain security, regression (bug), optimizer, and functional fixes which may include feature extensions as well.

Oracle and IBM tend to battle for the mid-range database market on Unix and Linux platforms, while Microsoft dominates the mid-range database market on Microsoft Windows platforms.

Niche commercial competitors include Teradata (in data warehousing and business intelligence), Software AG's ADABAS, Sybase, and IBM's Informix, among many others.