Cloud computing: Oracle joins in to catch rivals

Technology giant Oracle Corp has developed an ambitious array of cloud computing services in a bid to catch up with Amazon.com Inc and Salesforce.com Inc, two leaders in the field.

The offerings were unveiled by an enthusiastic Oracle Chief Executive Larry Ellison, a contrast to his attitude at an investor meeting several years ago when he mocked cloud computing as a financial analyst asked him what his strategy was for expanding into that area.

The new offerings include software for managing tasks such as sales and human resources, a database, security technology and a platform for writing Web applications with Oracle's widely used Java software.

Oracle Chief Executive Larry Ellison said that programs and data that Oracle hosts on its cloud can easily be moved to a customer's own data center or Amazon's rival cloud.

He added that the ``Oracle Public Cloud'' would not be compatible with web-based offerings from rival Salesforce.com, which runs on proprietary standards that are not compatible with other networks.

``It's like the roach (motel) - you fly into the (Salesforce) cloud and you never get out,'' he said.