Gartner: IBM steals database crown from Oracle

IDG News Service - IBM has dislodged Oracle Corp. from the top of the market for database management software, helped along by its billion-dollar purchase of Informix Corp., according to new figures being released today by Stamford, Conn.-based Gartner Inc.
In 2001, IBM and Westborough, Mass.-based Informix captured a combined 34.6% of worldwide new license revenue from database management systems, besting Oracle's 32%, Gartner said. In 2000, the totals were 33.7% for IBM-Informix and 34.1% for Oracle.
The market as a whole generated $8.8 billion in revenue, growing just 1.4% from the previous year. In contrast, revenue climbed a brisk 10% from 1999 to 2000, Gartner said.
Most database management systems vendors saw single-digit or negative growth, although Microsoft Corp. was a notable exception, Gartner said. The software giant saw revenue from new database management systems licenses climb 17.8%, putting it in third place behind Oracle with 16.3% of the market. Sybase Inc. was a distant fourth with 2.6%.
Oracle sought to downplay the numbers. The database management systems market includes all databases, including IBM's mainframe products and Microsoft Access, running on both Unix and Windows, noted Rene Bonvanie, vice president of Oracle9i marketing. In the Unix database market, worth about $3 billion, Gartner's results showed that Oracle retained its lead with 63.3%, compared with 24.7% for IBM-Informix, he said.
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 telecommunications 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 criticized IBM's Informix acquisition, saying Big Blue had spent $1 billion 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 at IBM's data management group.
Even without the Informix acquisition, he said, Gartner's figures showed IBM gaining ground against Oracle in the overall database market. Without Informix, IBM's share of database management systems 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 tiedbetween IBM and Oracle, which were separated by a mere $30 million in new license revenue," the research firm said.
Gartner analysts weren't immediately available to comment further on the figures.
Oracle was also surpassed in the Windows market, where Microsoft took the lead. The software maker took 39.9% of new license 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 $2.55 billion, up 11% from 2000.