Larry Ellison co-founded Oracle, originally called Software Development Laboratories, in 1977.
Ellison founded the company with Bob Miner and Ed Oates in Santa Clara, California. Its first major product was a relational database system inspired by research and concepts associated with IBM. The company initially developed software for the United States government and other customers that needed structured data management.
Software Development Laboratories changed its name to Relational Software, Inc. in 1979 and then became Oracle Systems Corporation in 1982. The name Oracle came from an earlier project connected with the Central Intelligence Agency. People sometimes confuse Oracle’s founding date with the launch of its first commercial database product, but the company itself began in 1977. Oracle later became one of the world’s largest enterprise-software companies.