There are words and terms that change our lives forever. In November 1963 such a term arose and since then this one term and the concept behind it, database, have improved our way of life significantly. Nowadays, there is no company, corporation or supermarket that does not use a database system to store all the needed information.

Since the development of the first database systems in the 1960s, many software companies have tried to sell their product on the market and make a name for themselves. Some have succeeded, whereas others have not. In 1979 Oracle Corporation entered the highly competitive software market introducing the Oracle database. This acerb competition made it very difficult for corporations to establish any product in the market and that much harder to climb to the top and remain there. Oracle database not only made a name for itself but twenty- nine years later, it still remains one of the most used and appreciated relational database management systems. Along with the databases used to store information, a new concept made its way into our lives: software engineering. We can not talk about the Oracle database without talking about software engineering, for any software requires maintenance, operation and of course development in order to meet the established standards.

The Oracle database does not target any type of business, this being one of the selling points that have made this software appreciated along the years. Big companies or small businesses can benefit from the use of this database. The many options of the Oracle database make it very flexible and the number of features each option has allow all businesses, large or small, to serve their needs. The introductory price is another selling point that the Oracle database has managed to keep along the years without having to lower its standards. However, not all customer needs can be met and this is where software engineering comes in. The problems that have to be solved by the Oracle database lie not only in the hands of the first people who have created it, but in the hands of software engineers, who manage the entire development process and software maintenance.

In the hands of well-trained and experienced software engineers, the Oracle database reaches its true potential. What the program must do[p1] and why are the main concerns involved in software engineering, for there is a great variety of businesses that require the use of database systems and their needs may differ from one to the other. The Oracle database has managed to gain its appreciation due to its flexibility and its competitive prices but without proper software engineering, the Oracle database would have probably had a slower climb to the top of the market.

A great software, like Oracle database, in the hands of talented and well- trained engineers can make the difference between a successful business and a failing one. Nowadays, when databases are mandatory for any company to conduct their business properly, choosing the appropriate database and software engineering team is imperative.