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ORACLE CORP., THE world's largest database company and second-largest software maker, produces the databases that run the World Wide Web. It's that simple. Oracle has comfortably dominated the database industry since the late '80s, becoming the choice of the well-heeled Fortune 500. But that alone doesn't account for the level of success Oracle has enjoyed. It has been aggressively pursuing new markets in closely related areas, such as ecommerce, CRM (customer relationship management) and ERP (enterprise resource planning), competing successfully with SAP and Baan. Oracle has also ventured down some roads not so closely related to databases, such as network computers.
Founded by Larry Ellison, Bob Miner and Ed Oates in the late '70s, Oracle was a powerhouse by the start of the '90s. The company's glistening cylindrical headquarters (shaped like the icon typically used to denote a database) in Redwood Shores, Calif., greets every flight coming into San...