Oracle (NYSE: ORCL) is a multinational computer technology corporation based out of Redwood City, California. The company has a current market capitalization of $183.95 billion.

With the IT environment getting more complex, the technology infrastructure market is undergoing a shift towards integrated systems.In addition to the growing need for simplifying IT complexity, lower total cost of ownership (TCO) and enhanced security are factors driving this trend. Single-stack solutions like Oracle's Engineered Systems are expected to be an overriding trend for the IT industry in 2015.

According to IDC there are two market segments for integrated systems – Integrated Infrastructure and Integrated Platforms. Integrated infrastructure is the bundling together of hardware by multiple vendors. These players are trying to solve the complexity of hardware by combining storage, servers, network and more into one unit. Examples include VCE, a joint venture between EMC, Cisco and VMware, which produces the Vblock solutions and the Cisco and NetApp product called the FlexPod.

Integrated platforms like Oracle's Engineered Systems on the other hand combine hardware and software for a targeted functionality whether it is to manage big data, power cloud or consolidate databases. Enterprises are realizing that consolidating workloads from multiple machines onto a single, engineered system works faster; is less expensive and just makes good business sense. When they compare price/performance numbers with multivendor solutions – solutions that they have to buy, build, integrate, and test on their own – it's evident that engineered systems offer lower TCO and better performance, business results and ROI.

Older platforms that combine discrete hardware and software technologies also face scalability and reliability challenges when running customized, dynamic business processes, particularly in the face of disruptive trends such as cloud computing and mobile technology. These platforms are often heavily customized, so over time they become difficult to support and upgrade.