The key feature of 12c, which is set for release sometime next year, is multitenancy, which enables users, if they desire, to create multiple "pluggable" databases that reside within a single database container, senior vice president Andy Mendelsohn said during a keynote address.

This constitutes "a fundamental re-architecture of the database," Mendelsohn added. "Now if I'm an administrator, I have one database overall to administer."

The pluggable database concept is "sort of like a Swiss Army knife," giving DBAs a flexible tool to run their environments, he said.

Database 12c also makes much more efficient use of hardware resources, saving companies money, Mendelsohn said.

For example, it incorporates a "heat map" feature that tracks how frequently different chunks of data are used, allowing customers to archive rarely accessed information on lower-cost mediums.