Ellison gave an update on the progress of Fusion Applications, which became generally available last year. Some 400 customers are licensing the software, with about 100 having gone live.

Out of those, about 40 percent are using Fusion CRM (customer relationship management) and another roughly 40 percent are running HCM (human capital management), according to a slide shown during Ellison's presentation. The rest are running Fusion ERP modules.

Two-thirds overall are deploying Fusion in Oracle's cloud, Ellison added.

Many customers who now prefer to run applications either on-premises or via dedicated hosting are going to adopt Oracle's Private Cloud, another offering announced this week that essentially duplicates Oracle's public cloud behind a customer's firewall.

But in any event, "you can make one decision and change your mind" since Fusion Applications can be moved between deployment models without changes, Ellison said.