⭐ A Brief History of Oracle Database – From Version 1 to Today

 

🟧 Introduction

Oracle Database is one of the most powerful and widely used relational database systems in the world. For more than four decades, Oracle has been the backbone of enterprise applications, banking systems, government platforms, ERP systems, and high-performance data platforms.

In this post, let’s take a simple and clear journey through the history of Oracle Database, from its beginning to modern cloud transformation.

🟩 How Oracle Started

Oracle was founded in 1977 by:

• Larry Ellison

• Bob Miner

• Ed Oates

The idea came after reading a research paper on relational databases by IBM, but IBM didn’t build it. Larry Ellison saw the opportunity — and Oracle was born.

Oracle was the first commercial SQL-based relational database system in the world.

🕰️ Timeline of Oracle Database Versions

🔸 Oracle Version 2 (1979) – The First Release

Oracle skipped Version 1 to avoid the “first version bug fear.”
Oracle V2 included:

• Basic SQL support

• Simple multi-user access

• First relational DB implementation

It ran on DEC PDP-11 hardware.

🔸 Oracle Version 3 (1983) – Major Rewrite in C

• Rewritten completely in the C programming language

• Improved performance

• Portable to multiple operating systems

This version helped Oracle expand globally.

🔸 Oracle Version 4 (1984)

• Added Read Consistency

• Added Integrity Constraints

This version made Oracle more reliable for business systems.

🔸 Oracle Version 5 (1985) – Start of Client/Server Era

• Introduced Distributed Database

• Support for Client/Server architecture

• First version running on mainframes

This was the beginning of true enterprise database usage.

🔸 Oracle Version 6 (1988)

A very important release:

• Row-level locking

• Hot backup mode

• PL/SQL support (basic version)

This made Oracle suitable for large OLTP systems.

🟦 The Modern Era of Oracle

🔹 Oracle 7 (1992) – The Game Changer

• Full PL/SQL support

• Stored procedures, triggers

• Security and performance improvements

• Better backup and recovery

Oracle 7 made Oracle the market leader.

🔹 Oracle 8 (1997)

• Object-Relational features

• Large Object (LOB) types

• Data warehousing improvements

🔹 Oracle 8i (1999) – “Internet Edition”

• Introduced Java inside the database

• Major enhancements for internet applications

The “i” stands for Internet.

🔹 Oracle 9i (2001)

• Real Application Clusters (RAC) introduced

• Better data warehousing features

• XML support

RAC became a revolutionary technology.

🔹 Oracle 10g (2003) – Grid Computing

• Automatic Storage Management (ASM)

• Data Pump Export/Import

• Improved RAC

• Self-managing database features

“g” stands for Grid Computing.

🔹 Oracle 11g (2007)

• Automatic SQL Tuning

• Data Compression

• Real Application Testing

• SecureFiles (improved LOB storage)

🔹 Oracle 12c (2013) – Cloud Era

• Multitenant Architecture (CDB/PDB)

• In-memory options

• JSON support

• Better security

“c” stands for Cloud.

🔹 Oracle 18c / 19c (2018–2019)

• Autonomous Database concept

• Machine learning-based automation

• 19c became the long-term support release

19c is extremely stable and widely used in production.

🔹 Oracle 21c (2021)

• Blockchain tables

• In-memory improvements

• Better JSON support

• Auto indexing

🎯 Conclusion

From a small startup in 1977 to a global technology giant, Oracle has transformed the world of databases.
Understanding this history helps every developer appreciate the evolution of SQL, PL/SQL, RAC, and modern cloud databases.

Oracle continues to grow with Autonomous Databases, OCI, and advanced analytics solutions — and this journey is still going on.