Demand for hardware boosts Oracle results

Company to announce two high-end systems combining Sun hardware with Oracle software at next week's OpenWorld

Oracle records another bumper revenue jump

Database giant Oracle has reported first quarter 2011 results showing revenue up 48 per cent to $7.5bn (£4.8bn) and profits up 20 per cent at $1.4bn (£894m).

In a statement preceding a conference call on the financial results, Oracle said that new software licence revenues were also up 25 per cent to $1.3bn (£830m).

"We executed better than expected on both the top and bottom line for the quarter,” said Oracle chief financial officer Jeff Epstein.

Oracle co-president Safra Catz said: “Our hardware business also grew faster than we expected with Sun Solaris servers and Exadata leading the way.”

Chief executive Larry Ellison highlighted the company's performance in its database heartland.

“Our Exadata database machine continued to win new customers in Q1,” he said. “The worldwide Exadata pipeline now exceeds $1.5bn (£957m) for the full fiscal year.”

Commenting ahead of Oracle OpenWorld in San Francisco next week, co-president Mark Hurd said: "We'll be investing over $4bn (£2.6bn) in R&D this year.

"Next week at OpenWorld, we'll announce two new high-end systems combining Sun hardware with Oracle software."

Hurd is currently the subject of legal action by former employer HP, after he resigned from HP and was immediately employed by Oracle. The company has asked a California state court to place an injunction barring Hurd from holding positions which could enable him to share HP trade secrets. HP is also seeking compensatory damages and attorney fees.