REDWOOD SHORES, Calif., Oct. 31, 2005 -- Oracle (Nasdaq: ORCL) today announced Oracle(R) Database 10g Express Edition (Oracle Database XE), a free, starter edition of the world's leading database software. A beta version of Oracle Database XE is available for download today.

This new edition of Oracle Database 10g offers application developers, database administrators (DBAs) and students a free starter database to develop and deploy their applications. It is also freely available for independent software vendors (ISVs) and hardware vendors to distribute or embed with their applications and products.

"Oracle Database XE allows developers, DBAs, ISVs and students the opportunity to learn, develop and deploy on the world's leading database software, at no cost," said Thomas Kyte, vice president, Oracle. "No one has to make do anymore; everyone can now start with the best."

"Developers, DBAs, students, and ISVs often look to no cost DBMSs to get started in developing and learning to develop database applications," said Carl Olofson, research director for information management and data integration software research at analyst firm IDC. "When such a DBMS is supported by a wealth of literature, online technical material, and professional experts, and allows developers to easily grow and support their applications and data needs over time without needing to convert their database later on, the result is a low risk path that offers a high potential return not only immediately, but in the long run."

Oracle Database XE Offers Development and Deployment Infrastructure

Oracle Database XE is built on the Oracle Database 10g Release 2 code base and is fully compatible with the family of Oracle Database products including Oracle Standard Edition One, Oracle Standard Edition and Oracle Enterprise Edition. Users can start small, choose to upgrade to other editions of Oracle Database 10g as demand grows, and move their applications to other editions without changes.

Oracle Database XE delivers the same common SQL and PL/SQL interfaces available in other versions of Oracle Database 10g, plus a wide range of programming interfaces to support the needs of different development communities. For example, full development and deployment support is available for Java, .NET, PHP, and Windows developers. In addition, Oracle Database XE enables developers to take full advantage of Oracle HTML DB feature for rapid Web application development and deployment.

Oracle Database XE is available on 32-bit Linux and Windows operating systems, and can be installed on any supported hardware platform. As a free, starter database, Oracle Database XE:

-- uses at most one CPU or one dual core of processing capability;

-- memory usage is kept below one gigabyte (GB);

-- is limited to a single instance per system; and,

-- stores up to four GB of user data.

Third-party providers can distribute and/or embed Oracle Database XE with their products as long as they adhere to the above runtime usage criteria.

Key Partners Deliver Access to Oracle Database XE

Novell and Red Hat will offer their users access to Oracle Database XE through multiple channels. For more information about Novell's support of Oracle Database XE, visit: http://www.novell.com/oracle . Red Hat will provide access to Oracle Database XE through http://www.redhat.com Web pages.

Availability

The beta version of Oracle Database XE is available for download today from the Oracle Technology Network at: http://www.oracle.com/technology/xe . Oracle Database XE is available for download, usage and distribution at no charge. Terms, conditions and restrictions apply.

Oracle offers a free online forum for registered users to discuss topics related to Oracle Database XE usage. The forum is hosted and monitored by Oracle Database experts and is available through: http://www.oracle.com/technology/products/database/xe/forum.html .

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