IBM and SAP are taking aim at Oracle's user base with
the announcement of a technology, sales and marketing alliance,
spearheaded by a new version of the DB2 database optimised for SAP
customers.
An IBM spokeswoman said the partnership also set the stage for
IBM’s DB2 database to grow market share within the installed
SAP base at Oracle's expense. More than 60% of SAP customers
currently use an Oracle solution.
The SAP-optimised version of DB2 uses autonomic computing
technologies tuned to help SAP users streamline installation,
improve performance and increase availability, significantly
lowering total cost of ownership.
The pair have integrated new features into this latest release
of DB2, version 8.2.2. It is the first time that IBM has ever
tailored DB2 for a particular application provider.
“SAP has worked closely with IBM around DB2 to give our
customers a competitive edge,” said Karl-Heinz Hess, SAP senior
vice-president for active global support.
“IBM’s latest release of DB2 is a substantial step in our joint
integration efforts. This tighter integration will allow our
customers to enjoy more enhanced performance of SAP solutions,” he
said.
