Oracle eclipses database players

Software giant Oracle has this year extended its lead as the world's premier supplier of databases, beating off stiff competition from IBM and Microsoft, and defying a slowing economy.

This is according to the latest figures from Gartner Dataquest, which see Oracle's market share rise from 31.4 per cent to 33.8 per cent. However, IBM continued to challenge, growing its market share from 29.9 to 30.1 per cent, mainly at the expense of the smaller players, including Informix.

The biggest influence over the last year has been the slowdown in the US economy, which kept total market spending down to $8.8bn, a much slower growth than in previous years.

The database market is set for another shake-up this year, with the industry yet to feel the ramifications of IBM's $1bn purchase last month of Informix's database business.

Oracle's Larry Ellison, IBM's Lou Gerstner and Microsoft's Bill Gates all feature in silicon.com's Agenda Setters 2001. To find out more, visit http://www.silicon.com/as2001