The benefits of partitioning are not just for very large databases; all databases, even small databases, can benefit from partitioning. Even a database whose size is measured in megabytes can gain the same type of performance and manageability benefits from partitioning as the largest multi-terabyte system.
For more information about how partitioning can provide benefits in a data warehouse environment, see Using Partitioning in a Data Warehouse Environment.
For more information about how partitioning can provide benefits in an OLTP environment, see Using Partitioning in an Online Transaction Processing Environment.