Worldwide Database Market Reached $5.7 Billion in 1996, According to Dataquest

Worldwide Database Market Reached $5.7 Billion in 1996, According to Dataquest

Oracle Tops IBM as Market Leader for Second Consecutive Year

San Jose, Calif., April 10, 1997—Driven by the strong growth in the relational database management system (RDBMS) market, the worldwide database market grew 15 percent in 1996 with revenue reaching $5.7 billion, up from $4.9 billion in 1995, according to Dataquest. Oracle was the No. 1 vendor for the second year in a row with 30 percent market share, and IBM maintained the No. 2 position with 26 percent market share (see Table 1). Informix was the No. 3 vendor, and its success was due in part to its healthy growth in the RDBMS market.

"The need for data management solutions accessing complex data-in data warehouses, Web pages, or competitive advantage applications-has demanded an updated RDBMS model," said Carolyn DiCenzo, Director of Dataquest's Client/Server Software Worldwide program. "The emergence of the Universal Server has prompted renewed activity in the RDBMS market, which has benefited all participating vendors."

Dataquest forecasts the worldwide database market to reach $10.1 billion in the year 2001. The majority of the revenue will come from RDBMS products and with UNIX, the platform for half of the overall revenue base.

Table 1
Worldwide Database Vendor Revenue Estimates for 1996
(Millions of U.S. Dollars)

              1995   1995 Market       1996   1996 Market    1995-1996 
Company    Revenue      Share(%)    Revenue     Share (%)   Growth (%)
Oracle       1,341          27.0      1,701          29.8         26.8
IBM          1,327          26.7      1,462          25.6         10.2
Informix       367           7.4        527           9.3         43.6
Others       1,927          38.8      2,006          35.2          4.1
Total        4,962         100.0      5,695         100.0         14.8
Note: Columns may not add to totals shown because of rounding.
Source: Dataquest (April 1997)

The Object database market showed strong growth in 1996, but the market's still relatively small. "Vendor revenue growth in the market has been slow, but the Internet is about to change that," said Ms. DiCenzo. "The Internet has provided the 'killer application' that this technology is uniquely designed to address."

The Dataquest Market Analysis Perspective, "Worldwide Database Preliminary Market Statistics—1996," [ http://gartner5.gartnerweb.com/register/stories/cssw-ww/cssw-ww-dp-9703-pv-0001.html ] provides preliminary market share statistics as well as a forecast by platform to the year 2001. This report takes a preliminary look at the data that will be published in an upcoming Market Statistics report.

This report is part of Dataquest's Client/Server Software Worldwide program that provides data and analysis on a broad range of client/server software segments including database, network and system management, application development tools, and operating systems.

To purchase this report, or to subscribe to Dataquest's Client/Server Software Worldwide program, please call 800-419-DATA. More information about Dataquest's programs, descriptions of recent research reports, and full text of press releases can be found on the Internet at http://www.dataquest.com.

Dataquest, founded in 1971, is a global market research and consulting company serving the high-technology and financial communities. The company provides worldwide market coverage on the semiconductor, computer systems and peripherals, communications, document management, software, and services sectors of the information technology industry. Dataquest is a GartnerGroup [ http://gartner5.gartnerweb.com/public/static/home/home.html ] Company.