ARC Databases: IBM Beats Out Microsoft

After two years of finishing just behind arch-rival Microsoft, IBM wrested the top spot in this year's Annual Report Card database software product category.

IBM finished first or tied for first in seven of the 11 subcategories of the survey. The company won outright in key areas such as product quality and revenue/profit potential, as well as in post-sales and marketing support. It received its lowest score,a third-place finish,for ease of doing business.

"It shows that the initiatives we implemented last year are paying off," says Jim Kelly, vice president of data management marketing in IBM's software solutions division.

Kelly was particularly pleased that DB2 was ranked No. 1 in the revenue/profitability. "We put a lot of effort into improving that," he says.

Kelly credits IBM's lead over its competitors in postsales and marketing support to the company's revamping of its support function. "We took some aggressive actions to streamline how we provide our free technical support," he explains. Electronic assistance, mentoring and education are key elements of IBM's offerings.

IBM's scores were generally strong in areas measuring partnership efforts. Kelly attributes IBM's top placement in communication and e-business programs to IBM's becoming more fully engaged with emerging business models such as ASPs, noting more than 1,000 Web integrators support the DB2 product line. Kelly also says that DB2 has had 11 consecutive quarters of growth at three times the industry average. IBM thinks it's on a roll; our survey results seem to bear this sentiment out.