Oracle Corporation released the Oracle Database in 1979, one of the first commercially available SQL-based relational databases.
The company was founded in 1977 as Software Development Laboratories by Larry Ellison, Bob Miner, and Ed Oates. Its early database work was inspired in part by an IBM research paper describing the relational model and the Structured Query Language, commonly called SQL.
The first commercial version was initially called Oracle Version 2, because the founders wanted to avoid suggesting that an earlier version was missing. The product helped establish Oracle as an important supplier of database software for businesses and government organizations.
Oracle later expanded into enterprise applications, cloud computing, hardware, and corporate acquisitions. Its database history is distinct from the later Oracle brand name: the company changed its name to Oracle Systems Corporation in 1982 and eventually to Oracle Corporation.