Larry Ellison, Bob Miner and Ed Oates – The pioneers behind the success of “Oracle”

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Larry Ellison and his mates Bob Miner and Ed Oates set on a journey in 1977 which went on to change the world of software. They established Software Development Laboratories in 1977, which soon turned into one of the greatest man-made creations in Oracle. Oracle is one of the most revered and celebrated computer technology corporations across the globe.

Oracle was one of the earliest companies to start out from Silicon Valley. Corporations across the world use an Oracle product in one way or another. Larry Ellison is the founder of Oracle and he is one of the richest individuals on Earth, according to Forbes. Owing to his keen business acumen and technological know-how, he steered Oracle to where it is now.  Oracle currently ranks 81 on the Fortune 500 list.

Where it all started

Oracle was co-founded by Ellison with Miner and Ed Oates under the name Software Development Laboratories (SDL) in 1977.   While learning computer and programming skills, Ellison jumped from one job to another to optimize his knowledge. Larry Ellison was inspired by a paper written by Edgar F. Codd about relational database management systems (RDBMS.)

Database management systems are a way to store and access information and it was a huge breakthrough at the time. SDL later changed its name to Regional Software Incorporated and then to Oracle Systems Corporation in 1982.

This was during a time when learning was possible only through experience, as there wasn’t any social media and everything about the computers was still new. For them to have shown that confidence in themselves to stay connected and create something as big as this is simply astonishing.

Growth of Oracle over the years

As a key player in the booming software industry, Oracle grew rapidly and had its initial public offering (IPO) in 1986, after reporting a revenue of $ 55 million dollars.  They finally hit the jackpot with their Oracle7 database, which is a management system used for warehousing and online transaction processing.

During the dot-com boom of the 1990s, Oracle was selling databases to all the companies riding the wave.  When Marc Benioff, who used to work for Larry Ellison, expressed his desire to start his own venture called Salesforce, Larry Ellison invested two million dollars in it.

Salesforce now generates a revenue of 10 billion dollars and ranks second on the Fortune 500 list. Oracle later went on to acquire HR software provider PeopleSoft and Sun Microsystems, which was the creator of the Java programming language.  This particular acquisition gave Oracle key technology and control of the MySQL database.

Currently, the company also boasts one of the best man-power in the world, with over 136,000 employees working for them. Oracle is also trying to make huge inroads in the coming years in the cloud computing sector with Larry Ellison appointing himself as the Chief Technology Officer. He wishes to see the company go up the ranks further in the coming years.

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