A) Running a payroll system is not a difficult software problem. A 400$ pc is significantly more powerful than the 80's mainframes that ran huge enterprises. The only real issue with such systems is the terrible state of in house “enterprise” software.
B) However, for those rare cases where you really need a monster of a database there are plenty of options. Teradata for example can be used when hundreds of HDD are just not enough.
So while Oracle can scale up (to B), it's rarely used in that capacity simply because it's not needed (see A). IMO, the only need to use Oracle is when it's possible to scale rapidly and money is not an issue.
A) Running a payroll system is not a difficult software problem. A 400$ pc is significantly more powerful than the 80's mainframes that ran huge enterprises. The only real issue with such systems is the terrible state of in house “enterprise” software.
B) However, for those rare cases where you really need a monster of a database there are plenty of options. Teradata for example can be used when hundreds of HDD are just not enough.
So while Oracle can scale up (to B), it's rarely used in that capacity simply because it's not needed (see A). IMO, the only need to use Oracle is when it's possible to scale rapidly and money is not an issue.