The overall strategy is an ambitious one that features software (SaaS) and platform (PaaS) offerings, along with social collaboration tools, all leveraging the legacy database management systems that have made Oracle one of the biggest tech companies in the world.

"They're investing substantially in the cloud," says Paul Hamerman, a Forrester analyst who is attending Oracle Industry Analyst World 2012.

CONSOLIDATION:

Oracle has been public about some of its plans. Last year at Oracle OpenWorld company co-founder and CEO Larry Ellison announced , which incorporates application and platform services, including in the customer relationship management (CRM) and human capital management (HCM) areas, using the company's Fusion line of software products. Those products have been on the market, while the database management, Java writing and social network components have been limited to availability on a preview basis.

This week, during the analyst meeting, Oracle provided additional insight into how the could be used within the cloud. For example, according to analysts who were in the room but agreed to nondisclosure agreements that prevent them from revealing much detail, Oracle did a live demo showing an application based on its Fusion CRM offering that was powered by the Oracle Public Cloud.