DB2 Needs Better Backing

Computerworld - DENVER -- If IBM wants corporate executives to spend money on its database technology instead of on rival products, it must do a better job of promoting the software, said attendees at last week's International DB2 Users Group conference here.
The more IBM pushes DB2, users said, the easier it will be for them to sell the technology inside their companies and fend off attempts to replace it with Oracle or SQL Server.
"I want IBM to blow its own horn more aggressively," said a program analyst at an insurance company that runs the mainframe version of DB2. The analyst, who asked not to be named, noted that as part of a long-term strategy, his company is looking to move applications to Windows. He said he fears that the firm will eventually replace DB2 with Microsoft Corp.'s SQL Server database companywide.
That message was repeated often by users at the conference and elsewhere. Although customers said they're generally pleased with the technical direction of DB2, some said IBM needs to step up its marketing of both its flagship database technology and its Informix product line.
Those users' calls for more visibility from IBM came as Gartner Inc. released a report showing that Oracle Corp. recovered ground in the worldwide relational database market last year to draw roughly even with IBM. According to Gartner, IBM's sales grew 5.8% last year to $2.66 billion, compared with a 14.6% increase for Oracle to $2.64 billion.
IBM had a 34.1% market share, compared with 33.7% for Oracle, Gartner found. Microsoft was a distant third with a 20% market share, although Gartner said the company's yearly revenue grew 18%.
IBM "could do better marketing [DB2] to small businesses," said Philip Nelson, a database administrator and a consultant at ScotDB Ltd. in Edinburgh. As a result of IBM's push to automate DB2 management routines, the technology is potentially attractive to smaller companies that want to avoid heavy administration costs, he noted.
Robert Omerza, president of Chicago-based IDUG and a systems manager at United Parcel Service Inc., said that over the past year or two, IBM has recognized that there's an awareness gap about DB2's capabilities. IBM has started taking steps to address that gap by marketing itself more to the DB2 community and pushing colleges to offer courses on the software, Omerza said.
A user who runs DB2 on IBM's iSeries systems but didn't attend the IDUG conference said that IBM would have to invest a lot of money to alter the perception that DB2 is a contender on platforms besides the iSeries.
"We typically