Oracle Database - Marketing Editions

Marketing Editions

Over and above the different versions of the Oracle database management software developed over time, Oracle Corporation subdivides its product into varying "editions" - apparently for marketing and license-tracking reasons. (Do not confuse the marketing "editions" with the internal virtual versioning "editions" introduced with Oracle 11.2). In approximate order of decreasing scale:

• Enterprise Edition (EE) includes more features than the 'Standard Edition', especially in the areas of performance and security. Oracle Corporation licenses this product on the basis of users or of processors, typically for servers running 4 or more CPUs. EE has no memory limits, and can utilize clustering using Oracle RAC software.
• Standard Edition (SE) contains base database functionality. Oracle Corporation licenses this product on the basis of users or of processors, typically for servers running from one to four CPUs. If the number of CPUs exceeds 4 CPUs, the user must convert to an Enterprise license. SE has no memory limits, and can utilize clustering with Oracle RAC at no additional charge.
• Standard Edition One, (SE1 or SEO) introduced with Oracle 10g, has some additional feature-restrictions. Oracle Corporation markets it for use on systems with one or two CPUs. It has no memory limitations.
• Express Edition ("Oracle Database XE"), introduced in 2005, offers Oracle 10g free to distribute on Windows and Linux platforms. It has a footprint of only 150 MB and is restricted to the use of a single CPU, a maximum of 4 GB of user data. Although it can install on a server with any amount of memory, it uses a maximum of 1 GB. Support for this version comes exclusively through on-line forums and not through Oracle support.
• Oracle Database Lite, intended for running on mobile devices. The embedded mobile database located on the mobile device can synchronize with a server-based installation.