D. R. Deutsch, Vice President Standards Strategy & Architecture STANDARDS STRATEGY in a GLOBAL SOFTWARE BUSINESS ANSI Annual Conference 15 October 2002 Washington, DC D. R. Deutsch, Vice President Standards Strategy & Architecture

AGENDA Historical Perspective – THEN & NOW Standards Approach Software & Standards Marketplace Oracle’s Products Standards Approach Organization Philosophy Standards Setting Organizations Proliferation of Consortia/Pseudo-Consortia Evaluating SSOs

THEN: US Dominated Global IT Market Strong Domestic IT Industry US domiciled producers Many/varied consumers Entrepreneurial environment Robust De Jure Standards Process Domestic: ANSI, X3/NCITS/INCITS International: ISO/IEC JTC 1 Minimal US Government Involvement: De jure standards based procurement No Regulation US Leadership/Control of International Standards

ORACLE = RELATIONAL DATABASE Oracle Founded in 1976 to bring Relational Database Management System (RDBMS) to Market SQL Database Language (1986, 1989, 1992,…, 1999) (One of) the most successful standards of last 20 years ALL RDBMS products implement/conform Facilitated creation/growth of RDBMS market De facto (marketplace) standard De jure (formal) standard in ANSI & ISO/IEC SQL Standards Helped Oracle Become the 2nd Largest Independent Software Vendor in the World

NOW: US Still Dominant BUT… Changing International Standards Environment Coordinated EU vote(S) in ISO/IEC JTC 1 Declining US interest/influence in de jure forums Less agreement on shared issues/concerns in US De Jure Software Standards Forums Focusing on: Standards maintenance Incremental enhancement of existing standards Consortia & Pseudo-Consortia Forums of Choice for New Software Related “Standards” Work

ORACLE = Not Just RDBMS Anymore Expanding Beyond Core RDBMS Products Focus on Internet Computing Fully integrated, web-enabled applications Front office: CRM Back Office: ERP Internet development tools Database and application servers Internet Computing => Standard Interfaces/Protocols Standards Are More Important Today Than Ever

Global Standards Approach Bottoms-up Versus Top-down Business Units Drive Standards Participation Customer/product requirements determine relevance Importance to business units determines investment Corporate Functions Support Standards Activities Standards Strategy Legal External Affairs

ORGANIZATION CEO Standards Strategy Chief Architect Servers DB & App Apps ERP&CRM SW Dev Tools Sales & Prof Svcs Legal External Affairs Policy & Legal Groups Standards & Consortia Forums

Functional Areas (Business Units) Responsible for Costs Participation Fees Personnel Resources Travel expenses Champion Technology and IPR Issues Involve other Business Units: Solicit inputs Report activities Customer/Product Requirements Drive Standards Participation

Standards Strategy Orchestrates Company-Wide Participation in Standards and Consortia Forums Develops Corporate Standards Strategy Facilitates Participation in and Communication About Standards Bodies Identifies and Coordinates Activities in Areas that Cross Business-Units: e.g., Java, Security, XML Participates in Policy and Oversight Bodies

Legal Evaluates and negotiates agreements governing Oracle's participation in standard setting bodies principal concern is IPR rights and obligations Participates in patent policy development in certain standard setting bodies, e.g. W3C Java Community Process ANSI Evaluates legal risks to Oracle in complying with standards Monitors legal developments advises on impact to Oracle participates in lobbying / policy making

External Affairs US Government Relations International IT Policy Advocacy in legislative & executive branches Industry associations International IT Policy Direct representation, e.g., OECD Through third party, e.g., USISTO in China Alerts Business When Governments Consider Standards Related Issues

Determining Company Positions Most Decisions are Made by Directly Impacted Business Units Key is Recognizing When Issues Impact Other Company Functional Areas Use Transparency: Proposed External Positions Made Visible Throughout the Company Passive communication, e.g., “Unless you advise otherwise, the Oracle vote will ...” Provide opportunity for discussion before positions are finalized & communicated outside business

Oracle’s Standards Philosophy As the Internet Goes, So Goes the Software Industry any standards that facilitate internet computing are good for the software industry and for Oracle Standards do NOT result in sustainable competitive advantage Standards are means toward satisfying customer requirements NOT ends Product Strategy Drives Standards Strategy

Proliferation of Consortia/Pseudo-Consortia US Companies Investing More in “Standards” $ for participation fees Technical personnel resources LESS Into Formal Standards Bodies MORE Into Consortia & Pseudo-Consortia BUT Outside the US, De Jure Standards Still Dominate European Union Developing Countries

Evaluating Standards Setting Organizations Standards Succeed ONLY IF Widely Implemented => Standards Setting Organizations MUST: Be OPEN to ALL interested parties Provide a level playing field Produce specifications that can be implemented by the widest possible community => royalty free Many SSOs Do NOT Satisfy These Criteria Most Pseudo-Consortia Some Consortia

Contact Information Dr. Donald R. Deutsch, Vice President Standards Strategy and Architecture Oracle Corporation 500 Oracle Parkway, 5op3 Redwood Shores, CA 94065 (650)506-2275 Work (650)303-7096 Cell (650)726-9562 Home donald.deutsch@oracle.com