We are the world’s largest enterprise software company. We develop, manufacture, market, distribute and servicedatabase and middleware software as well as applications software designed to help our customers manage andgrow their business operations.

Our goal is to offer customers scalable, reliable, secure and integrated software solutions that improve transactionalefficiencies, adapt to an organization’s unique needs and allow better ways to access and manage information andautomate business processes at a lower total cost of ownership. We seek to be an industry leader in each of thespecific product categories in which we compete and to expand into new and emerging markets.

We believe our internal, or organic, growth and continued innovation with respect to our core database, middlewareand applications technologies provide the foundation for our long-term strategic plan. In fiscal 2009, we invested $2.8 billion in research and development to enhance our existing portfolio of products and services and to developnew products, features and services.

An active acquisition program is another important element of our corporate strategy. In recent years, we haveinvested billions of dollars to acquire a number of complementary companies, products, services and technologies. We believe our acquisition program supports our long-term strategic direction, strengthens our competitiveposition, expands our customer base, provides greater scale to accelerate innovation, grows our revenues andearnings, and increases stockholder value. We expect to continue to acquire companies, products, services and technologies.

Oracle Corporation was incorporated in 2005 as a Delaware corporation and is the successor to operations originally begun in June 1977.

 

Software and Services

We are organized into two businesses, software and services, which are further divided into five operating segments. Our software business is comprised of two operating segments: (1) new software licenses and (2) software licenseupdates and product support. Our services business is comprised of three operating segments: (1) consulting, (2) OnDemand and (3) education.