Mark Hurd appointed Oracle president

Mark Hurd, the former HP chief executive who resigned in a cloud of rumours and accusations, has joined rival Oracle as president.

The appointment had looked likely for a while, given Hurd's impressive record at HP and the support of his peer Larry Ellison, chief executive of Oracle.

However, the move means the end of Charles Phillips' tenure as Oracle president. Phillips announced his resignation as president and board member at the same time.

Oracle said in a statement that Hurd will work closely with Ellison, who welcomed his friend to the team.

"Mark did a brilliant job at HP and I expect he'll do even better at Oracle. There is no executive in the IT world with more relevant experience," he said.

"Oracle's future is engineering complete and integrated hardware and software systems for the enterprise. Mark pioneered the integration of hardware with software when Teradata was a part of NCR."

Oracle president Safra Catz added: "Mark is an outstanding executive and a proven winner. I look forward to working with him for years to come. As Oracle continues to grow we need people experienced in operating a $100bn [£65bn] business."

The combination of Hurd and Ellison could make Oracle a considerable force, and Hurd already has his sights set on IBM.

"I believe Oracle's strategy of combining software with hardware will enable Oracle to beat IBM in enterprise servers and storage," he said.

"We have some exciting new systems we are going to announce later this month at Oracle OpenWorld. I'm excited to be a part of the most innovative technology team in the IT industry."