By Network World Staff
Network World, 12/25/00

Oracle wants desperately to be the main source of software infrastructure for the Internet. It kicked those plans into gear in 2000, and will now accelerate them.

So far, revenue is growing modestly at the software company, although investors clearly believe Oracle is in a good position for bigger gains.

Its market capitalization has soared from $38 billion in 1999 to more than $200 billion in 2000, during a period when revenue grew modestly. Revenue for fiscal 2000, which ended May 31, was $10.1 billion, up nearly 15% from $8.8 billion in 1999.

Oracle projects an overall growth rate for fiscal 2001 revenue in the same area. It expects database revenue to grow 15% to 25%. It's pinning a lot of hope on its suite of Web-enabled enterprise business applications, estimating revenue growth in the 50% to 100% range.

The applications are tightly integrated with each other and with the Oracle database. Integration is key to Oracle's infrastructure marketing campaign.

The companion 9i Oracle Application Server incorporates the Apache Web server and is designed to blend tightly with the database. In mid-2000, Oracle unveiled a database-based caching system for the application to speed e-commerce sites. The Internet File System, released in May, gives users a Windows-like graphical user interface for storing and managing all kinds of files in the database.

But Microsoft's high-end Windows 2000 Data Center server release, coupled with the gradual rollout in 2001 of key elements of its .Net Web infrastructure, pose a major threat in the still evolving world of Web commerce.

Oracle may find it harder to meet that threat with the loss of two executives in 2000. Long-time president Ray Lane, widely respected in the industry, resigned abruptly in early summer. And veteran Executive Vice President Gary Bloom, seen by many as a possible successor to Lane, left in the fall.

Oracle vendor profile
The latest news and stock information. Network World.

Send this article to a colleague