Channel Best-Sellers: Software

BARBARA DARROW

Microsoft SQL Server was the top-selling database last year, according to The NPD Group/Distributor Track.

The vendor increased its share by 4.4 percentage points to a 47.3 percent share last calendar year. The NPD figures cover the U.S. dollar volume of databases sold through distributors, including the Global Technology Distribution Council. Microsoft's share also grew the fastest among the Top 5 best-sellers. The current SQL Server 2005 debuted in November of that year, so last year probably saw a lot of upgrade activity.

The share of the No. 2 player, IBM, slipped 4.2 percentage points to 26.4 percent of the database dollar volume flowing through distribution in 2006, NPD reports. The No. 3 player, Oracle, saw its share rise to 21.5 percent of the dollar volume. That is probably no surprise: SQL Server has been hot in its own right and Microsoft has always been channel-oriented, where both Oracle and IBM continue to sell plenty of databases direct.

"My belief is that if you get your resume read, the No. 1 thing you want to have on it is SQL Server experience and No. 2, Oracle," said Lee Blackstone, CEO of Blackstone and Cullen, an Alpharetta, Ga.-based solution provider that does a lot of database work, most of it in the Microsoft camp.

Mike Drips, an independent technology consultant based in Folsom, Calif., said SQL Server wins deals where cost is an issue, despite the fact that both IBM and Oracle have offered repackaged and less costly versions of their databases for some time.

"The entry point is less expensive with SQL Server than with Oracle or IBM. Although it may not be technically superior, it's easier to get into. If you're an enterprise, you'll look at Oracle and IBM but then it all comes down to bucks and SQL Server," Drips said.

The Distributor Track numbers show Filemaker at No. 4, with share falling slightly to 4.1 percent of the dollar volume. And Sybase, which has become a niche player but with residual strength in financial services industries, logs in at the fifth slot, with its 2006 share falling to 0.2 percent from 0.3 percent in 2005.

Next: Storage Management Software

BY STACY COWLEY

Veritas is still the established workhorse in data backup and recovery software. Even being acquired hasn't thrown it off its pace.

Symantec snapped up Veritas in July 2005, shoring up its own LiveState Recovery and Ghost backup and storage management offerings with Veritas' popular line. In 2006, the Veritas brand retained its dominant position and continued growing, giving Symantec a combined share of more than 60 percent of the U.S. dollar volume for storage management software sold through distributors reporting data for The NPD Group/Distributor Track.

"They're established as a standard with many of the partners out there, and clients are comfortable with Veritas' product," said David Hall, CTO of Symantec partner CompuCom, Dallas. "It works well; it's reliable; and [it's] proven over the years to integrate well into an IT environment. They've taken on an industry leader role and secured a pretty strong base."

When considered separately, the Veritas product line claimed 47.3 percent of the 2006 market, while the Symantec line, which claimed the No. 3 best-seller spot, logged a 16.2 percent share. Both product lines realized a gain of 0.1 percentage points. The No. 2 player in terms of dollar-volume market share was IBM with 16.5 percent, the NPD/Distributor Track shows. EMC, the fifth best-seller, was the top-growth best-seller, adding 0.8 percentage points.

Solution providers say the established leaders should watch their backs. Backup software is commoditizing, driven by compliance concerns, and archiving is emerging as the new hot spot in storage. Partners are looking to smaller software vendors with niche expertise.

The sluggish growth in the category, especially IBM's share slip, didn't surprise Brian McCarthy, president of storage services specialist Sencilo Solutions, Lake Mary, Fla. Customers are seeking simplicity, and IBM doesn't deliver, he said. "The average storage user is really a networking person. We've got to have something simple for them to manage," McCarthy said.