-Worldwide IBM have experienced 20 consecutive quarters of growth in the database field, Q1 of this year we grew by 28 percent," IBM ANZ manager of data management, Brett Vincent, told ZDNet Australia. -Unfortunately we don't break figures down according to location, but we have experienced significant growth in Australia."
Oracle claim they are not losing market share to competitors, and question the methodology of a Gartner report that says otherwise.
Not surprisingly, IBM is sticking by the Gartner figures. -We believe implicitly in the Gartner methodology," said Vincent. -Being an independent body they have a more balanced view than anyone else, after all, this is what they do for a living."
-This same methodology has been used by Gartner for years and years, and only since IBM became number one do we hear Oracle complaining."
Vincent believes there are three reasons why IBM has overtaken Oracle. Firstly, three years ago IBM ditched applications and concentrated on becoming the best infrastructure provider while Oracle decided to be a one-stop shop. This meant a lot of application providers migrated from Oracle to IBM.
The other two reasons are the cost effectiveness of IBM solutions over three to five years, and IBM providing superior customer service, according to Vincent.
He also claims people are not looking for point solutions, but for solutions that can solve their business problems. For example, the NSW Land and Property Information, which wanted a platform to provide spatial information to their customers. -It was an Oracle shop but after extensive testing concluded IBM had the best solution, so purchased an entire platform," Vincent said. He also cited Kraft Australia and VicRoads as large customers that have migrated to IBM.
