Oracle Expected To Announce Key Technology Partnerships With Microsoft, Netsuite, Salesforce.Com On Its Cloud Computing Database 12c

Oracle Corporation (NASDAQ:ORCL) is set to announce new technology partnerships with several software companies next week, while media reports speculate whether it has to do with Oracle Database 12c, the company's new cloud-computing platform announced last October.

Oracle CEO Larry Ellison confirmed that the company has a big announcement coming up next week, during the company's quarterly conference call with Wall Street analysts on Thursday.

"Next week we will be announcing technology partnerships with the largest and most important SaaS companies (software-as-a-service) and infrastructure companies in the cloud," Ellison said, according to Business Insider.

These companies will be "committing to our technology for years to come" and these "partnerships will reshape the cloud," he said.

Ellison did not specifically say that the new partnerships would be centered on its multitenant Database 12c, but analysts infer it to be so as he mentioned the partnerships while commenting about 12c on the conference call.

Database 12c, where ‘c’ stands for cloud, is unlike traditional Oracle databases, and is designed to allow various clients to use, store and share data on a server hosted in the cloud. Redwood City, Calif.-based Oracle launched Database 12c as an alternative to other comparable virtual software, and had announced that it would be the "foundation of a modern cloud."

Oracle, which was initially hesitant to shift to cloud-based computing, was forced to make the transition late last year, after it struggled with a slump in software license sales and online subscriptions.

Oracle on Thursday announced its fourth-quarter earnings, showing $3.8 billion or 80 cents a share for the quarter ended May. Earnings-per-share, excluding one-time items met analyst expectations at 87 cents a share. Revenue for the quarter was reported to be $10.95 billion falling short of expectations.

According to analysts polled by FactSet, the company was expected to report earnings of 87 cents per share on revenue of $11.12 billion. Following the announcement of the quarterly results, Oracle shares lost more than 8 percent to close at $30.30 in after-market trading on Thursday.

Ellison also hinted that partnerships would be announced with Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ:MSFT), Salesforce.com Inc. (NYSE:CRM) and Netsuite Inc. (NYSE:N).

Both Salesforce.com and Netsuite have been using Oracle databases for several years now, and analysts expect it is highly likely that they would upgrade to 12c. Ellison co-founded Netsuite and still holds a significant stake in it, while he had invested in Salesforce.com, Business Insider noted.

However, Microsoft building its services on Oracle 12c would come as a surprise development, as the software giant has its own SQL Server, which competes with Oracle databases in several markets. Microsoft also has its own cloud technology.

In a separate development, Microsoft announced that Oracle's president Mark Hurd, Microsoft's CEO Steve Ballmer and Satya Nadella, Microsoft's president for the server and tools business, would address the media in a teleconference on June 24.

The media teleconference comes ahead of the Microsoft’s developer conference in San Francisco next week.