Oracle VP Bob Shimp

Shimp used some familiar themes when he kicked off the Oracle Industry Analyst World today in Redwood Shores, Calif.

While Oracle (NASDAQ: ORCL) has spent billions of dollars acquiring companies, Shimp noted that Oracle has invested $19 billion on R&D since 2004, with a $5 billion R&D budget in place this year. “We acquire companies but in fact we are one of the largest R&D organizations in the world,” Shimp said.

Shimp then described Oracle’s engineered systems strategy. He said Oracle’s hardware, operating systems, databases, middleware and applications are “engineered to work together, and engineered at every layer.” Plus, he asserted that the integration occurs within each layer and between the layers — and out to third-party systems.

Among the big themes Oracle will discuss during the analyst gathering over the next two days:

Backed by those brands and initiatives, Oracle will focus its marketing on simplifying IT and powering extreme innovation.

Some critics may find those marketing claims ironic. Oracle, after all, has long specialized in big, complex ERP and vertical market systems. And in many customer settings, the classic Unix database market running on Sun SPARC/Solaris gradually gave way to lower-cost Linux-based systems. But therein resides one of Oracle’s key points. The company claims to be the Linux industry’s top database supplier, even as demand for Oracle Solaris 11 is doing well, Shimp said.

So where do channel partners fit into this conversation? Lydia Smyers, group VP for worldwide alliances and channels, is set to address the conference on April 18. The VAR Guy will be listening.