The rapid and disruptive shift in the industry toward those business-driven themes have led Ellison to assert a bold claim: new competitive dynamics in the database sector will raise the stakes for Teradata and other relatively lower-profile players that have generally stayed under the radar of Oracle, IBM, and even Microsoft SQL Server.

FORBES: Larry Ellison: As We Thump IBM, Our Next Target Is Teradata

Microsoft saw the Raw Iron announcement as an attempt by Oracle to offer another competitive database to Microsoft's SQL Server.

CNN: Users wary of Oracle lightweight OS idea