Purse strings loosened for database projects in H1

Database and data integration market enjoys fine start to the year after slow 2009

The database and data integration software market bounced back impressively in 2010's first half after a "sluggish" 2009, according to research from IDC.

The analyst reports that total market revenue grew 10.9 per cent annually to $15.8bn (£10bn) in H1 2010. Relational database management systems chipped in global sales of $11.2bn, more than 70 per cent of the total. The rest came from non-relational database management systems, data integration tools and access software.

Database giant Oracle was top of the vendor pile in 2010's first six months, posting revenues of $5.6bn. IBM and Microsoft took second and third spots and, between them, the top three enjoyed sales of $11.4bn, some 72 per cent of the total market.

Carl Olofson, IDC's research vice president for application delivery and deployment, said end users are beginning to loosen their purse strings for strategic data management investments.

"Although the database and data integration market did not suffer negative growth in the way that some software markets did, it had been sluggish until late in 2009," he added.

"The double-digit growth shown in the first half of 2010 reflects an increasing willingness on the part of users to invest in strategic data management software."