IBM has dislodged Oracle from the top of the market for database
management software, helped along by its billion-dollar purchase of
Informix, according to new figures released today (Tuesday) by
analysts' group Gartner.
In 2001, IBM and Informix captured a combined 34.6% of worldwide
new licence revenue from database management systems (DBMS),
beating Oracle's 32.0%, Gartner said. In 2000, the totals were
33.7% for IBM-Informix and 34.1% for Oracle.
The market as a whole generated $8.8bn (£6bn) in revenue, growing
just 1.4% from the previous year. By contrast, revenue climbed a
brisk 10% between 1999 and 2000, Gartner said.
Most DBMS vendors saw single-digit or negative growth, although
Microsoft was a notable exception, Gartner said. Microsoft saw
revenue from new DBMS licences climb 17.8%, putting it in third
place behind Oracle with 16.3% of the market. Sybase was fourth
with 2.6%.
Oracle sought to downplay the numbers. The DBMS market includes all
databases, including IBM's mainframe products and Microsoft Access,
running on both Unix and Windows, noted Rene Bonvanie,
vice-president of Oracle 9i marketing. In the Unix database market,
worth about $3bn (£2.05bn), Gartner's results showed that Oracle
retained its lead with 63.3%, compared with 24.7% for IBM-Informix,
he noted.
Oracle has seen no evidence that customers are leaving for IBM and
Microsoft, he said, repeating an assertion made repeatedly in the
past year by Oracle's top executives. Instead, Oracle has suffered
the most from the collapse of young Internet companies and
telecommunication providers, which had driven its growth more than
that of its rivals.
"What this research suggests is that Oracle is losing market share,
and we have no proof whatsoever that that is happening," Bonvanie
said.
He also criticised IBM's Informix acquisition, saying IBM spent
$1bn (£680m) to boost its market share by three percentage
points.
IBM was undeterred. "We're thrilled to have captured the lead from
Oracle," said Jeff Jones, a director of strategy with IBM's data
management group.
Even without the Informix acquisition, he noted, Gartner's figures
showed IBM gaining ground against Oracle in the overall database
market. Without Informix, IBM's share of DBMS revenue increased
from 30.3% to 31.7%, while Oracle's slid from 34.1% to 32.0%.
"We came roaring up behind them even without the Informix
acquisition," Jones said.
Still, Gartner made it clear that it was the Informix purchase that
tipped the scales for IBM. "Without Informix, the contest would
have been essentially tied between IBM and Oracle, which were
separated by a mere $30m (£20.5m) in new licence revenue," the
research firm said.
Gartner analysts were not immediately available to comment further
on the figures.
Oracle was also surpassed in the Windows market, where Microsoft
took the lead. With 39.9% of new licence revenue in that sector, up
from 35.4% in 2000. Oracle saw its share slip from 38.1% in 2000 to
34% last year. The Windows database market as a whole was worth
$2.55bn (£1.74bn), up 11% from 2000.