2ND TIER VENDORS TRY TO BREAK OUT OF CROWDED FIELD

Oracle sits atop the data warehousing and business intelligence (BI) software market with over 50% of study participants naming it the leading vendor, according to recently released research from Survey.com, a leading eResearch company. The study reveals that clustered behind Oracle are Microsoft, IBM, and Cognos, each of which was cited by 26% to 33% of the study's participants as a leading vendor.

"The market has been attracting many new entrants but the leading vendors including Oracle have been able to keep their positions strong amid the heightened competition," says Nancy Stewart, program director for Enterprise Computing Research at Survey.com. "Certainly the flood of new offerings benefits customers by providing them with a greater variety of choices, thus enabling many businesses and organizations that couldn't afford the cost or the effort required in the past to now take advantage of these powerful solutions."

Second tier vendors are not sitting idle. According to the study, vendors such as Brio Technology, Business Objects, and even SAP are cited as leading vendors by an increasing number of users. Results reveal that both Brio and Business Objects are making good headway in the enterprise segment of the warehousing/BI market. "Microsoft holds sway in many small and medium-sized businesses and Oracle and IBM are strong in most every segment, particularly at the enterprise level, so second tier vendors have their work cut out for them," stated Stewart. "We are also just starting to see a hint of the open source supplier's potential as they too start to find a place in the evolving market."

The open source software contingent might break out of the pack and eventually impact the current leaders. IBM is one vendor that has embraced open source software wholeheartedly, who will likely serve as a boost to open source in the warehousing/BI market. As uncovered in the study, collectively, the open source software suppliers was cited as leading warehousing/BI vendors by over 8% of participants, which put them, as a group, ahead of dozens of other vendors.

The Database Solutions IV study is the fourth edition of the seminal analyses of the warehousing and BI market and is now available from Survey.com. Based on online interviews with nearly 600 IT and business professionals, this study examines the trends, issues, and future direction for the growing and evolving warehousing/BI market. For more information on the study or to receive a free overview presentation, please visit www.survey.com/reports/dbs4.

About Survey.com

Survey.com is a leading provider of eResearch and is the first company to successfully harness the power of the Internet for conducting primary and secondary market research. Last year the company completed more than 450,000 Internet-based surveys for both proprietary and syndicated market research studies on a broad range of topics, including information technology, consumer electronics, and entertainment. The firm's clients include Canon Computer Systems, Cisco Systems, CMP Media, Compaq, Earthlink Network, IBM, IDC, Interactive Week, Motorola, PC World, Ticketmaster Online-City Search, 3Com, and Ziff Davis Media. For more information visit www.survey.com.

Contact Survey.com, Brad Peppard, 408-907-0001 x500, brad@peppard.com.