Oracle 2007 Annual Report Download - page 16

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Table of Contents
providers which have been customized and implemented by systems integrators. In some of these industries,
complete industry solutions either do not exist or are addressed by dozens of software participants.
With service-oriented architecture, our packaged applications also compete with custom solutions developed
either in-house or by large systems integrators such as Accenture Ltd. or IBM Global Services.
Our applications also compete against business process outsourcers including Automatic Data Processing,
Inc., Fidelity Investments, Ceridian Corporation, Hewitt-Cyborg Limited and others.
In the sale of operating systems, we introduced a support and service offering for Red Hat’s open source
Linux operating system in fiscal 2007. This placed us in competition with others who offer support for the
Linux operating system, including Red Hat, Novell and Canonical Ltd. (Ubuntu); with IBM, Sun
Microsystems, HP and others in the sale of Unix operating systems; and with Microsoft in the sale of
Windows Server operating systems.
In the sale of virtualization products, we compete with VMware, Inc., IBM, Microsoft, Sun Microsystems and
Citrix Systems, Inc., among others, including other vendors of open source virtualization products.
In the sale of consulting and systems integration services, we both partner with and compete against
Accenture, Electronic Data Systems Corporation (to be acquired by HP), IBM Global Services, Bearing Point,
Inc., CapGemini Group, and many others (both large and small).
In the sale of many of our products, we also compete with products and features developed internally by
customers and their IT staff.
Research and Development
We develop the substantial majority of our products internally. In addition, we have acquired technology
through business acquisitions. We also purchase or license intellectual property rights in certain
circumstances. Internal development allows us to maintain technical control over the design and development
of our products. We have a number of United States and foreign patents and pending applications that relate
to various aspects of our products and technology. While we believe that our patents have value, no single
patent is essential to us or to any of our principal business segments.
Research and development expenditures were $2.7 billion, $2.2 billion and $1.9 billion, or 12%, 12% and
13% of total revenues, in fiscal 2008, 2007 and 2006, respectively. As a percentage of new software license
revenues, research and development expenditures were 36%, 37% and 38% in fiscal 2008, 2007 and 2006,
respectively. Rapid technological advances in hardware and software development, evolving standards in
computer hardware and software technology, changing customer needs and frequent new product
introductions and enhancements characterize the software markets in which we compete. We plan on
continuing to dedicate a significant amount of resources to research and development efforts to maintain and
improve our current product offerings including our database, middleware and applications software products.
Employees
As of May 31, 2008, we employed 84,233 full-time employees, including 19,465 in sales and marketing,
7,642 in software license updates and product support, 28,215 in services, 20,607 in research and
development and 8,304 in general and administrative positions. Of these employees, 28,079 were located in
the United States and 56,154 were employed internationally. None of our employees in the United States is
represented by a labor union; however, in certain international subsidiaries workers’ councils represent our
employees.
Available Information
Our Annual Report on Form 10-K, Quarterly Reports on Form 10-Q, Current Reports on Form 8-K and
amendments to reports filed pursuant to Sections 13(a) and 15(d) of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, as
amended, are available, free of charge, on our Investor Relations web site at www.oracle.com/investor as
soon as reasonably practicable after we electronically file such material with, or furnish it to, the Securities
and Exchange Commission. The information posted on our web site is not incorporated into this Annual
Report.
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Source: ORACLE CORP, 10-K, July 02, 2008 Powered by Morningstar® Document Research℠