The market for software that pushes applications across networks grew 4.4
percent in 2003. According to IDC, the growth is projected to continue
every year through 2008, as IBM continues to lead the space with a healthy market share.
IBM led the application deployment sector, which includes
application, Web and integration servers and message-oriented,
transaction-server and access-integration middleware, with a 35.6 percent
share.
IDC chalked up IBM’s dominance to the
continued success of its legacy mainframe and OS/400 systems middleware. BEA
and Oracle
follow with 11.5 and 5.9
percent, respectively.
In evidence that the economy is improving from its weak position of two
years ago, the three rivals all gained share compared to 2002, when the
software market was saddled with the worst of the effects of the 2000 dot-com
bust. The application deployment software segment amassed over $7
billion in sales in 2003.
Dennis Byron, vice president and business process automation and deployment software analyst at
IDC, said in a statement that BEA led the fiercely competitive deployment
software segment for Linux- and UNIX-based applications, with Oracle growing
at three times the market average.
Byron said BEA is strong on these platforms in North America. But IBM continued
to hold a wide lead overall because of its popular transaction-server and
message-oriented middleware, including its CICS
Server software platform and WebSphere MQ message broker products.
Byron listed a few key market drivers, including the increasing popularity
of heterogeneous computer environments. He also noted that UNIX, Linux
and Windows systems will slowly displace IBM’s overall
dominance in middleware, opening the field to other players.
Other propellers include a trend of professional developers and their management
moving to platforms with increased functionality.
Lastly, the analyst said increased demand for business process automation
(BPA) features is driving middleware growth.
IDC measured the software revenue as the combination of new license revenue
and activity related to previous years’ licenses. The company culled data
from over 1,200 IT managers in North America in October/November 2003 for the
results.
