Prior to forming Oracle, Bob Miner was Larry Ellison’s manager where
they worked at Ampex together on a CIA project code-named “Oracle.”
Larry chose Bob as his manager because he liked Bob a lot more than his
original manager. Ed Oates, another founder of Oracle, happened to be
walking by Bob Miner’s door when Larry Ellison mentioned his (Larry’s)
wife’s name. It turned out to be Ed Oates’ lab partner from high school.
Bruce Scott, who would be hired upon the formation of the company, is
the “Scott” in scott/tiger (Tiger was Bruce’s daughter’s cat).
Oracle Celebrates 30 Years
Update:
Ellison and Miner, who worked together at Ampex in the 1970s, started
Software Development Laboratories in 1977 to develop database software
for the CIA under the code name “Oracle.” The Silicon Valley company had
$2,000 in funding from Ellison, Miner and co-founders Ed Oates and
Bruce Scott. And the startup had a cardboard sign in front of its first
office.
Some of the anecdotes related by Ellison: The company bid $300,000
for the CIA project with the next biggest bid hitting $2 million — an
example of how little the founders understood finances. The company kept
no real financial books for its first two years and Ellison and company
had no idea what a balance sheet was. When they discovered that the man
who delivered pizza to the company every night was a Berkeley
accounting student, they convinced him to quit school and become the
company’s first CFO.
The original “terabit database” project for the CIA failed and in
1982 the company changed its name to Oracle. (“Because the project
failed, the name was available,” Ellison said.) The CEO also admitted
that the first version of the company’s relational database was dubbed
Release 2.0. “Who would buy Version 1 of a database from four guys in
California?” Ellison said. He also related a story of a confrontation
with a marine guard at CIA headquarters when he lost his security badge
while installing the company’s software at CIA headquarters.
Ellison Looks Back As Oracle Turns 30
(Source: Oracle Corp website)
*ORACLE OPENS NEW R&D CENTER IN ISRAEL (02/2007)
Oracle also announced intentions to triple its investment in Israeli start-ups during 2007
Enterprise software giant, Oracle, is opening a new R&D center
based on its acquisition of Israeli company, Demantra, last year. The
R&D center, with approximately 30 employees, will develop technology
focused on demand driven planning solutions. At the opening of the
R&D center, Oracle announced its plans to invest in 12-15 Israeli
start-ups this upcoming year, compared to 4 companies in 2006.
Invest in Israel: Investment Promotion Center
Ellison was born in New York City to Florence Spellman, a 19-year-old
unwed Jewish mother. At his mother’s request, he was given to his
mother’s aunt and uncle in Chicago to raise. Lillian Spellman Ellison
and Louis Ellison adopted him when he was nine months old. Ellison did
not learn the name of his mother or meet her until he was 48; the
identity of his father is unknown.
http://ce399fascism.wordpress.com/2010/08/02/oracle-corp-named-after-cia-database/
