<P> Larry Ellison and his two friends and former co-workers, Bob Miner and Ed Oates, started a consultancy called Software Development Laboratories (SDL) in 1977 . SDL developed the original version of the Oracle software . The name Oracle comes from the code - name of a CIA - funded project Ellison had worked on while formerly employed by Ampex . </P> <P> Oracle products follow a custom release - numbering and - naming convention . The "c" in the current release, Oracle Database 12c, stands for "Cloud". Previous releases (e.g. Oracle Database 10g and Oracle9i Database) have used suffixes of "g" and "i" which stand for "Grid" and "Internet" respectively . Prior to the release of Oracle8i Database, no suffixes featured in Oracle Database naming conventions . Note that there was no v1 of Oracle Database, as Larry Ellison, "knew no one would want to buy version 1". Oracle's RDBMS release numbering has used the following codes: </P> <Table> <Tr> <Th> Oracle Database Version </Th> <Th> Initial Release Version </Th> <Th> Initial Release Date </Th> <Th> Terminal Patchset Version </Th> <Th> Terminal Patchset Date </Th> <Th> Marquee Features </Th> </Tr> <Tr> <Td> Oracle v2 </Td> <Td> 2.3 </Td> <Td> 1979 </Td> <Td> </Td> <Td> </Td> <Td> First commercially available SQL - based RDBMS </Td> </Tr> <Tr> <Td> Oracle v3 </Td> <Td> 3.1. 3 </Td> <Td> </Td> <Td> </Td> <Td> </Td> <Td> Concurrency control, data distribution, and scalability </Td> </Tr> <Tr> <Td> Oracle v4 </Td> <Td> 4.1. 4.0 </Td> <Td> 1984 </Td> <Td> 4.1. 4.4 </Td> <Td> </Td> <Td> Multiversion read consistency </Td> </Tr> <Tr> <Td> Oracle v5 </Td> <Td> 5.0. 22 (5.1. 17) </Td> <Td> 1985 </Td> <Td> 5.1. 22 </Td> <Td> </Td> <Td> Support for client / server computing and distributed database systems </Td> </Tr> <Tr> <Td> Oracle v6 </Td> <Td> 6.0. 17 </Td> <Td> </Td> <Td> 6.0. 36 (no OPS code) <P> 6.0. 37 (with OPS code) </P> </Td> <Td> </Td> <Td> Row - level locking, scalability, backup and recovery, PL / SQL </Td> </Tr> <Tr> <Td> Oracle7 </Td> <Td> 7.0. 12 </Td> <Td> June 1992 </Td> <Td> </Td> <Td> </Td> <Td> Objects, Partitioning, PL / SQL stored procedures, triggers </Td> </Tr> <Tr> <Td> Oracle 7.1 </Td> <Td> 7.1. 0 </Td> <Td> </Td> <Td> </Td> <Td> </Td> <Td> </Td> </Tr> <Tr> <Td> Oracle 7.2 </Td> <Td> 7.2. 0 </Td> <Td> June 1992 </Td> <Td> </Td> <Td> </Td> <Td> </Td> </Tr> <Tr> <Td> Orale 7.3 </Td> <Td> 7.3. 0 </Td> <Td> June 1992 </Td> <Td> 7.3. 4 </Td> <Td> February 1996 </Td> <Td> </Td> </Tr> <Tr> <Td> Oracle8 Database </Td> <Td> 8.0. 3 </Td> <Td> June 1997 </Td> <Td> 8.0. 6 </Td> <Td> </Td> <Td> Object - relational database, supporting many new data types </Td> </Tr> <Tr> <Td> Oracle8i Database Release 1 </Td> <Td> 8.1. 5.0 </Td> <Td> 1998 </Td> <Td> 8.1. 5.1 </Td> <Td> February 1999 </Td> <Td> </Td> </Tr> <Tr> <Td> Oracle8i Database Release 2 </Td> <Td> 8.1. 6.0 </Td> <Td> </Td> <Td> 8.1. 6.3 </Td> <Td> November 1999 </Td> <Td> </Td> </Tr> <Tr> <Td> Oracle8i Release 3 </Td> <Td> 8.1. 7.0 </Td> <Td> </Td> <Td> 8.1. 7.4 </Td> <Td> August 2000 </Td> <Td> Native support for internet protocols and server - side support for Java </Td> </Tr> <Tr> <Td> Oracle9i Database Release 1 </Td> <Td> 9.0. 1.0 </Td> <Td> </Td> <Td> 9.0. 1.5 </Td> <Td> December 2003 </Td> <Td> Oracle Real Application Clusters (RAC), Oracle XML DB </Td> </Tr> <Tr> <Td> Oracle9i Database Release 2 </Td> <Td> 9.2. 0.1 </Td> <Td> </Td> <Td> 9.2. 0.8 </Td> <Td> April 2007 </Td> <Td> </Td> </Tr> <Tr> <Td> Oracle Database 10g Release 1 </Td> <Td> 10.1. 0.2 </Td> <Td> 2003 </Td> <Td> 10.1. 0.5 </Td> <Td> February 2006 </Td> <Td> Grid infrastructure, Oracle ASM </Td> </Tr> <Tr> <Td> Oracle Database 10g Release 2 </Td> <Td> 10.2. 0.1 </Td> <Td> July 2005 </Td> <Td> 10.2. 0.5 </Td> <Td> April 2010 </Td> <Td> </Td> </Tr> <Tr> <Td> Oracle Database 11g Release 1 </Td> <Td> 11.1. 0.6 </Td> <Td> September 2007 </Td> <Td> 11.1. 0.7 </Td> <Td> September 2008 </Td> <Td> </Td> </Tr> <Tr> <Td> Oracle Database 11g Release 2 </Td> <Td> 11.2. 0.1 </Td> <Td> September 2009 </Td> <Td> 11.2. 0.4 </Td> <Td> August 2013 </Td> <Td> Manageability, diagnosability, and availability </Td> </Tr> <Tr> <Td> Oracle Database 12c Release 1 </Td> <Td> 12.1. 0.1 </Td> <Td> July 2013 </Td> <Td> 12.1. 0.2 </Td> <Td> July 2014 </Td> <Td> Multitenant architecture, In - Memory column store, support for JSON </Td> </Tr> <Tr> <Td> Oracle Database 12c Release 2 </Td> <Td> 12.2. 0.1 </Td> <Td> March 2017 (cloud) <P> July 2017 (on - prem) </P> </Td> <Td> </Td> <Td> </Td> <Td> Sharding </Td> </Tr> <Tr> <Td> Oracle Database 18c </Td> <Td> 18.1. 0 </Td> <Td> February 2018 </Td> <Td> </Td> <Td> </Td> <Td> </Td> </Tr> </Table> <Tr> <Th> Oracle Database Version </Th> <Th> Initial Release Version </Th> <Th> Initial Release Date </Th> <Th> Terminal Patchset Version </Th> <Th> Terminal Patchset Date </Th> <Th> Marquee Features </Th> </Tr>

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