Business Objects leads the intelligence market
A growth rate of 17 per cent in 2003 has put Business Objects at the top of the business intelligence (BI) tools market, according to IDC market share numbers. The figures, drawn from the research company’s Worldwide Business Intelligence Tools Forecast and Analysis, 2003-2008 report, note that the BI market grew to $3.9 billion worldwide in 2003. Based on revenues of $639.4 million, Business Objects grabbed the top spot with a market share of 16.5 per cent. The company also had success when it came to the end-user query, reporting, and analysis BI segment with a 20 per cent market share. Business Objects claimed this figure represented a market share almost double that of its next largest competitor. IDC research director, Dan Vesset, said the BI market continued to show steady growth.
Linux scores another major European win
The French Ministry of Equipment will migrate 1500 aging Windows NT servers to a specially developed version of MandrakeSoft’s Mandrake Linux Corporate Server. Two Linux distributions based on Corporate Server, developed to suit the ministry’s requirements, have been selected for the migration. The ministry is also buying services such as technical monitoring, training and technical support from MandrakeSoft. The ministry said it is migrating to an open source platform partly to avoid being locked into the technology of a particular vendor, as well as to reduce IT costs. Large organisations, particularly in the public sector, are increasingly building open source software into IT buying cycles, according to a study last week from research firm IDC. The study found that organisations are using more external open source services, particularly consulting and server migration rather than relying on the decisions of internal IT staff.
