Lisa Baertlein
PALO ALTO: International Business Machines Corp. took the No. 1 spot last
year in terms of total new database software sales from long-time leader Oracle
Corp., according to a new report from Dataquest, a unit of technology research
firm Gartner Inc.
Oracle remains king of the relational database software segment that accounts
for 80 percent of the overall $8.84 billion database market, but slipped because
of competition from IBM and Microsoft, Dataquest said.
Elsewhere, Oracle lost ground on Microsoft's Windows server platform -- where
it was overtaken by the software behemoth -- and retained its lead on the Unix
platform.
"It's not a technology issue with Oracle ... Oracle has a credibility
problem with respect to its sales and business practices and its prices,"
said Dataquest analyst Betsy Burton, who noted that database buyers were
cost-conscious in 2001.
Dataquest said IBM's total database revenue grew to $3.06 billion from $2.94
billion in 2000. Sales from Informix, which Big Blue bought last year,
contributed $264.4 million and the computer giant's DB2 database software
products gained momentum. IBM now has about a dozen database products, which run
on everything from Windows and Unix operating systems to older mainframes.
Oracle, which previously had been on the top of the heap, slid to No. 2 as
its new database sales dipped to $2.83 billion from $2.97 billion a year
earlier.
Microsoft landed at No. 3 with sales of $1.44 billion. Burton said IBM's
Informix acquisition gave it the edge over Oracle in 2001. "They bought
market share," Burton said. "It would have taken us five years to
build the business without Informix," IBM spokeswoman Lori Bosio said.
Numbers dispute
Oracle's leadership in the relational database market weakened as its
overall share fell to 39.8 percent in 2001 from 42.5 percent in 2000.
IBM's share of the market increased to 34.1 percent in 2001 from 32.6 percent
the year earlier. Microsoft's share was 14.4 percent, up from 11.6 percent.
Oracle Chief Financial Officer Jeff Henley -- who for many months has maintained
the firm is not losing market share in the sector that provides nearly
three-quarters of company software sales -- questioned Dataquest's methodology.
Henley told Reuters that IBM and Microsoft do not provide auditable database
revenues and said the companies' reported numbers include sales of other
products.
"I'm not sure what their numbers are. There's no way to check
them," Henley said. Dataquest analyst Burton said her firm gathers its
information from a variety of sources, including public filings and client
interviews. "They're not the vendors' numbers, they're Gartner's
numbers," Burton said.
Oracle customers lately have been choosing its moderately priced
"standard edition" database over its more expensive, high-end
database. The company also saw its revenues hurt when big-spending dot-coms and
telecoms fell on hard times.
"You can't take a one-year snapshot and say Oracle is losing
share," said Henley, who noted that database sales to existing customers --
who make up well over 75 percent of Oracle's database revenues -- have remained
on track.
Oracle last summer cut prices on its databases after customers complained its
so-called "power-unit" pricing, based on the number of processors a
customer uses, was expensive and confusing. This year, the company has been
embroiled in a pricing flap with existing users over their use of data warehouse
software.
Elsewhere, the state of California is seriously considering scrapping a $95
million software deal with the company after state auditors said taxpayers would
pay $41 million too much for software few employees needed or wanted.
Oracle's stock, which last week fell to its lowest levels since 1999, is down
39 percent so far this year. Microsoft shares are 25 percent lower and IBM's
stock, which hit a four-year low on Monday, is off 32 percent.
Under the covers
Microsoft grabbed the No. 1 position on the Windows platform with 39.9
percent market share as Oracle, which held that spot last year, dropped to
second place with 34 percent share. Oracle continued to lead on Unix, but its
share fell to 63.3 percent from 66.2 percent in 2001.
Dataquest said the overall database software market grew to $8.84 billion
from $8.73 billion in 2000. While Burton doesn't see 2002's overall database
market growth being much to write home about, she expects the "jockeying
underneath the covers" to continue.
"I don't think this market is going to be boring over the next year at
all. I think there's going to be a lot of shifting," she said.