In the race to sell database software worldwide, Oracle improved its position to a "virtual tie" with IBM last year, according to a report by researcher Gartner.
Oracle claimed 34.1 percent of the overall market for relational database software, with IBM lording over 33.7 percent--a finish the report considered a dead heat. According to Gartner analysts, the difference between the two vendors was less than $30 million. Microsoft came in third, with a 20 percent share.
"Oracle saw strong growth of nearly 15 percent, much of it coming from its performance on the Linux platform," Gartner principal analyst Colleen Graham said in a statement. On the other hand, much of IBM?s growth came from its DB2 database on the zSeries mainframe servers and also DB2 sales on the Unix platform, which grew by nearly 9 percent.
Revenue for all companies from new license sales rose to $7.8 billion in 2004, the report said, an increase of 10.3 percent over 2003's $7.1 billion.
Unix continues to be the most popular database platform, but its share shrunk by 0.7 percent in 2004. Oracle dominates the Unix server software market with approximately 56 percent of new license revenue. Sales of databases on Windows were $3.1 billion, an increase of about 10 percent from 2003. Microsoft accounts for 51 percent of share in this segment.
The tag of fastest-growing segment is reserved for Linux-based databases, which grew a whopping 118 percent. The new license revenue accrued from the Linux segment was approximately $655 million in 2004, up from $300 million the previous year. Oracle rules the market with 80.5 percent market share.
Join the conversation
Comment replyThe posting of advertisements, profanity, or personal attacks is prohibited. Click here to review our Terms of Use.
Chinese authorities have reportedly taken iPads from a third-party retailer, a move apparently brought on by Apple's continued refusal to honor a trademark for the iPad name owned by a Chinese manufacturer.
NY professor believes that a word-based algorithm can help bring together those who believe, with one glimpse, that they have found and lost the love of their lives.
After a higher-than-expected fourth quarter, the video subscription service unburdens itself of a pending yearlong class action suit and settles for $9 million.
Along with green-lighting Google's buy of Motorola, the Justice Department today OKs an Apple-Microsoft-RIM partnership deal to buy Nortel patents, and Apple's plan to acquire Novell patents.
Chamtech's spray-on antenna uses a nano material to provide a low-power boost to antenna range. The wireless-in-a-can product may some day bring an end to unsightly cell towers.
This week, we pass around Sony's new PlayStation Vita for some hands-on testing, check out HP's newest Beats Audio laptop, and debate the best and worst Valentine's Day gadget gifts.
EnerG2 opens a plant to make an engineered carbon that will improve performance of energy storage devices and make storage for start-stop hybrid cars less expensive.
Join the conversation