Ellison lives in "fantasy" world

Oracle boss Larry Ellison is living in a "fantasy world", according to ex-Oracle executive and Asera VP Mark Atherton, who claims his former boss has "closed his eyes to reality".

Adding ammunition to an earlier war of words between Ellison and former Oracle COO Ray Lane, Atherton claimed Ellison's autonomous approach to software will leave Oracle languishing on the sidelines trying to shake off its niche database tag.

Atherton, now embracing what he calls a 'best-of-breed' approach with software start up Asera, admitted that conflicting opinions were a major reason why he and Lane left Oracle last year.

He said: "I think Oracle was in love with the idea of Oracle applications running in every enterprise in the world. That's a fantasy they fell in love with."

Atherton added: "It's not going to happen. Larry's definition of software only works if you close your eyes to the reality that these best-of-breed applications are already out there."

Atherton's comments support Lane who at a recent SAP conference criticised Ellison's insistence on going it alone. Ellison later responded at Oracle's OpenWorld event, branding Lane "confused" and "bewildered" and slamming best-of-breed strategies as "madness". Lane, who is now a partner with venture capital group Kleiner Perkins Caulfield and Byer is also a director on Asera's board.

Tim Jennings, research analyst with the Butler Group, agreed with Atherton that Ellison's headstrong approach was pushing Oracle out on a limb.

He said: "Ellison, true to form, has claimed that the days of system integrators are numbered, because all software will be sold as integrated suites. But there seems to be little agreement from the market that this is the case."