Gary Bloom has left databases for storage. <P> Bloom, often touted as a possible successor to Larry Ellison as chairman and CEO of Oracle, on Friday left his position as executive vice president to join data storage management software vendor Veritas as president and CEO. <P> Mark Leslie, who has served as chairman and CEO of Veritas for the past 10 years, will remain chairman. Bloom will join Veritas' board of directors. <P> The move was not a surprise to Ellison, who in a prepared statement said: "Gary is joining a key Oracle partner. With Gary at Veritas Software we expect an already close relationship to grow even closer. We are very proud of Gary. He is a first rate executive. During his fourteen year career at Oracle he did a wonderful job for us, and I am certain that he will do a wonderful job for Veritas Software." <P> Bloom was not the only former Oracle executive to make news on Friday. <P> Former Oracle president Ray Lane joined the board of Asera, which designs technology aimed at making different software packages work with each other. Lane left Oracle in July to join venture capital firm Kleiner Perkins Caufield and Byers as a new partner.