Gartner Says Worldwide Relational Database Market Suffered a 7 Percent Decline in New License Revenue in 2002.

Business Editors

STAMFORD, Conn.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--May 21, 2003

Worldwide relational database management systems (RDBMS) new license software revenue totaled $6.6 billion in 2002, a 6.9 percent decline from 2001 revenue of $7.1 billion, according to Gartner, Inc. (NYSE: IT and ITB).

IBM accounted for 36.2 percent of new license revenue for the worldwide RDBMS market in 2002 (see Table 1), followed by Oracle with 33.8 percent of the market. Gartner analysts said IBM's strong growth on DB2 for the zSeries compensated for a double-digit decline on DB2 for the iSeries, which kept IBM's new license revenue flat in 2002.

"Along with many of the other IT markets, the RDBMS markets are feeling the pressures of reduced IT spending," said Colleen Graham, industry analyst for Gartner's Software Industry Research group. "However, despite this slowdown of spending on new licenses, we find many organizations very actively utilizing and furthering development of their major RDBMS-based applications."

Table 1
Worldwide RDBMS Software New License Revenue Estimates for 2002
(Millions of U.S. Dollars)

                                    2002   2002    2001   2001
Company                           Revenue Market Revenue Market Growth
                                           Share          Share   (%)
                                            (%)            (%)
----------------------------------------------------------------------
IBM                                 2,400   36.2   2,419   33.9  -0.8
Oracle                              2,249   33.9   2,831   39.7 -20.5
Microsoft                           1,191   18.0   1,020   14.3  16.8
NCR                                   181    2.7     169    2.4   7.0
Others                                608    9.2     686    9.6 -11.4
Total Market                        6,629  100.0   7,124  100.0  -6.9
----------------------------------------------------------------------

Source: Gartner Dataquest (May 2003)

Despite a 20 percent decline in the overall RDBMS market, Oracle maintained its lead in the RDBMS market on the distributed platforms (Unix and Windows server). Oracle accounted for 43 percent of the market, compared with IBM with just over 24 percent. Microsoft, the No. 3 vendor in the market, grew 17 percent, as it continued to benefit from cost-conscious enterprises and from a product that has improved its scalability capabilities.

Additional information is available in the Gartner First Take "Gartner Study Confirms RDBMS Decline in 2002." This First Take provides statistics on the top-tier vendors within the RDBMS market, as well as RDBMS software on Unix and Windows. This First Take is available on Gartner's Web site at www.gartner.com/DisplayDocument?doc_cd=115036.

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About Gartner

Gartner, Inc. is a research and advisory firm that helps more than 10,000 clients leverage technology to achieve business success. Gartner's businesses are Research, Consulting, Measurement, Events and Executive Programs. Founded in 1979, Gartner is headquartered in Stamford, Conn., and has more than 3,800 associates, including approximately 1,000 research analysts and consultants, in more than 75 locations worldwide. Revenue for calendar year 2002 totaled $888 million. For more information, visit www.gartner.com.