Oracle bigger in Asia

As Oracle has slowly been releasing its income figures for fiscal year 2006, representatives yesterday announced revenue growth in the region of the Asian Pacific (comprised of Australia, China, Hong Kong, India, Indonesia, Korea, Malaysia, New Zealand, the Philippines, Singapore, Taiwan and Thailand) and Japan of approximately US $2.02 billion in total revenues for the fiscal year.

This figure represents an eighteen percent increase over the previous twelve months. In the region, new application license revenues grew almost seventy percent, with new database license and middleware license revenues growing thirteen percent. The region made up approximately fourteen percent of Oracle international revenue and almost one-fifth of all new license revenue. In the fourth quarter of the fiscal year (March-May, 2006), Oracle Asia Pacific and Japan bagged US $684 million in total revenue, a twenty-seven percent increase over one year ago. And new application revenue expanded to the tune of a ridiculous ninety-four percent.

Stating the obvious, Oracle Asia Pacific and Japan chairman / executive vice president stated definitively that fiscal year 2006 “was a record year for Oracle Asia Pacific and Japan.” Among other specific data was reportage of Oracle’s leading position in the relational database management system market in the non-Japanese Asian Pacific. The firm’s numbers show that Oracle license and maintenance revenues represented forty-seven percent of the niche market in the region, far ahead of second place SAP at approximately twenty-five percent.

Oracle clientele in the region is a virtual “Who’s Who” of industry, government and banking and includes ABN Amro Bank N.V., Banco de Oro, Beijing Capital International Airport, China Mobile, China National Petroleum Corporation, China Shipbuilding Industrial Corp., Heilongjiang Netcom, Jilin Netcom, Nanyang Technological University, Parkway Group Healthcare Pte Ltd, Robinsons Savings Bank, Shandong Netcom, Toshiba Information Equipment, Inc., the Indian Central Board of Excise & Customs, Centurion Bank of Punjab Ltd, Cipla Ltd, the Indian Department of Income Tax, Gujarat Alkalies and Chemicals Limited, ICICI Prudential Life Insurance Company Ltd., Relene Petrochemicals Pvt Ltd., Stock Holding Corporation of India Limited, Tata Motors Limited, Busan Bank, Citibank Korea Inc., Hanjin Shipping Co. Ltd., Hyundai Capital, Kookmin Bank, Korea Federation Of Banks, Shinhan Bank, and the Korea Development Bank.

As for the massive Fusion project Oracle has been all about for the better part of a year now, firm press material proclaims that “momentum [is building] for Oracle Fusion middleware,” with middleware new license revenues grew fifty-seven percent worldwide. Oracle Fusion middleware is the giant’s a comprehensive group of middleware products to facilitate adoption and management of service-oriented architectures in heterogeneous computing environments. Oracle listed thirteen major “wins” for Fusion Middleware new wins in the region, including Cathay United Bank; Central Restaurants Group Co. Ltd.; the NSW Department of Education and Training in Australia; the Shanghai Research Center for Biology Information Technology; Toshiba Information Equipment, Inc. of the Philippines; and Vatana Phaisal Engineering Co., Ltd.

And of course Oracle is no. 1 in CRM in the Asian Pacific, with seventeen percent of the market cornered and a clientele list of nearly 5,000 customers not including those in Japan. Indeed, Oracle has become such a force in the region that the company now refers to the “Oracle Economy” within the area. With regard to Oracle Economy investments, Oracle listed a few business initiatives run in the hopes of further stretching the company’s reach. These include expansion into thirty-three cities in China and India to promote growth and accelerate development of the local software industry; broadening the Oracle partner base by 490, bringing the total number of partners in the Asian Pacific to 2,120; the establishment of the Oracle Global Support Center in Dalian, China; and contributions of software totaling over US $630 million.