Oracle increases database market domination

Oracle database increased its top-ranked market share and outpaced the competition in its growth last year, according to data from IDC.

Oracle now holds an unrivalled 41.3 per cent of the database market. While the database market as a whole grew by 11.6 per cent in 2004, Oracle blew competitors out of the water with its 14.5 per cent year on year growth.

That rate of growth is accelerating too - the 14.5 per cent growth shows a substantial improvement on the previous year's already impressive 8.6 per cent growth.

"Oracle is not only leading the market, but it is widening the gap between itself and its nearest competitor," said Tim Payne, senior director of technology marketing EMEA. "ISVs are forced to gamble their business on the future of their core technology partner, but these statistics prove once again that Oracle's ISVs have placed a safe bet. Oracle's massive market share and continued growth will ensure it remains the market leader, while our constant innovation will ensure Oracle remains the most powerful platform for developers."

2004 was a big year for Oracle Database. In January, Oracle Database 10g became generally available. In February, lower pricing was introduced for Oracle Database 10g Standard Edition One. At the same time, Oracle Real Application Clusters was made available as part of Oracle Database 10g Standard Edition, enabling customers to benefit from the availability and scalability benefits of Oracle Real Application Clusters in a low cost product.

IDC's data is published in its report 'Worldwide RDBMS 2004 Vendor Shares: Preliminary Results for the Top 5 Vendors Show a Solid Boost (March 2005, IDC #32969)'.

For more information on Oracle Database visit: http://www.oracle.com/database/index.html