Oracle Q3 net income up 78 pct

Oracle said new software license sales,a pertinent element in the company8217;s growth,rose by 29 per cent to USD 2.2 billion.

The company,which deals in software,database systems and server hardware,said the performance was broad-based,with all geographic areas reporting revenue growth of 30 per cent or higher.

Oracle8217;s revenue from the hardware business stood at USD 1 billion.

In January,Oracle completed the acquisition of Sun Microsystems for USD 7.4 billion.

8220;Our hardware product gross margins increased to 55 per cent in the quarter so we are now completely confident that we will exceed the USD 1.5 billion profit goal we set for the overall Sun business for the current fiscal year,8221; Oracle President Mark Hurd said.

The margins were the result of strong demand for Exadata and Exalogic database and cloud computing products,he said.

Oracle also said it has raised its quarterly dividend by 20 per cent to 6 cents a share.