[amiga386]

> Enlighten me on what I would use Oracle

Oracle buys smaller enterprise companies with rich customers that were already using Oracle DB, or makes them rely on it, then cashes in on licensing.

So for example, they bought Micros (most EFTPOS terminals in the world are powered by them, I think), they bought Cerner (big supplier of IT to healthcare companies), they bought PeopleSoft. If your big company isn't using SAP, it's probably using that. Mundane but essential things for large businesses: CRM, ERP, payroll/HR.

So that's what you'd use Oracle for. Or perhaps you wouldn't use Oracle, then Oracle would buy your IT supplier and either you have to change your IT supplier (costing you millions) or congrats you're an Oracle customer now.

[nocommandline]

Oracle used to have EBS which competed primarily in SCM/Procurement (or ERP) domain.

They acquired the leaders in HCM (PeopleSoft) and CRM (Siebel) domains and combined them all (SCM, HCM, CRM) into a single (new) product called Fusion.

Their pitch also was - PeopleSoft and Siebel required people with different skill sets (PeopleCode for PeopleSoft, Siebel eScript for Siebel); but with Fusion, customization would not require any programming language knowledge and in the rare cases that it did, you just needed Java. This meant it was cheaper for enterprises. This was a big selling point for a lot of enterprises and helped them reduce their IT cost.

[amiga386]

I presume what that actually means is that the Java programmer needs to learn the now-Java APIs of what PeopleCode did, and the now-Java APIs of what eScript did, and they're all probably JavaBeans...

But I suppose that does help a company get staff in the door if the job advert just says "Java programmer", they won't be immediately scared off.

[oogali]

Your phone calls and SMS messages that touch the phone network, likely touch Oracle. Yes, nearly all of them.

For a tech-adjacent example of an acquisition of an entrenched supplier, look at Tekelec, a telecom hardware and software vendor which Oracle purchased in 2013[1].

Tekelec had a number of products but Oracle really cared about one: the EAGLE family, which is a suite of hardware and software for handling network signaling and routing over SS7. For any customer, EAGLE sits at the core of their networks and it is why your calls actually get connected and billed correctly.

EAGLE had a customer base that included nearly all of the important global telecom carriers. From the press release:

> Tekelec’s technology enables service providers to deliver, control and monetize innovative and personalized communications services and is utilized by more than 300 service providers in over 100 countries.

Verizon[2][3] runs EAGLE STP in their core, as does AT&T[4] (f/k/a SBC). Old business win press releases from Tekelec mean Bell Canada and Rogers still likely do. Based on job postings, Vodafone and Virgin Mobile use EAGLE STP for exchanging SS7 messages to/from roaming partners. And from public RFPs, the US Department of Defense[5] runs their own private phone networks, with EAGLE STP at the core.

Given how prevalent EAGLE deployments were in the early 2000s, how SS7 is needed to make the phone network functional, and how STPs are fixtures that do NOT get swapped out often, I feel very confident in saying that Oracle has had a supporting hand in most, if not all, of the phone calls and text messages you've placed since 2013.

1: https://www.oracle.com/corporate/pressrelease/oracle-buys-te...

2: https://www.verizon.com/about/sites/default/files/2025-03-07...

3: https://www.verizon.com/business/content/dam/business-market...

4: https://www.lightreading.com/business-management/tekelec-win...

5: https://sam.gov/opp/2227eac9a05f7c33f25b19a6ed5ab634/view

[amiga386]

Isn't SS7 going away?

It's not used in 4G/5G; Diameter is used instead. Most cellular telcos are ending or planning to end their 2G/3G networks (3G moreso than 2G). In the US, the FCC continues to push for IP-only networks, and AT&T is turning off their landline services (though they keep pushing out the date, it's currently at 2029). Obviously, the US is not the only country, but this seems to be the global direction.

Nonetheless, I can imagine that Oracle will still worm its way into telco recordkeeping and billing systems even if the protocol changes...

[abalashov]

Hey Oogali! Long time. :)

"When you read an unusually high-expertise HN comment and realise you know the author..."

[bequanna]

It sounds like you don't use Oracle, Oracle uses you.