Talk About a Loyal Following

Microsoft's victory in the database software category of VARBusiness' 2003 Annual Report Card--its second in three years--shows how the company is trying to extend its Windows OS dominance to other arenas.

Microsoft's SQL Server and related tools outpaced IBM's and Oracle's largely because of VAR loyalty. Despite being third to Oracle and IBM in overall Windows and Unix server market share, the SQL Server database was the top Windows-based server and the only one whose revenue grew in 2002, according to Gartner Dataquest.

Even though VARs rated IBM's DB2--which won the ARC last year--as significantly more reliable than SQL Server, Microsoft won the category because of the loyalty engendered by the low cost (compared to Unix) and ubiquitous presence of Windows. Microsoft and IBM scored evenly in the innovation, support and partnership subcategories, but Microsoft clinched the category high of 83 for loyalty.

Gordon Mangione, Microsoft's corporate vice president for SQL Server, says the company's rankings were helped by initiatives like its new Partner Rewards program. More improvements are on the way, such as SQL Server 2000 Reporting Services and the beta 2 release of the new SQL Server. "SQL Server 2000 is a complete database platform with integrated business intelligence, development and management tools at no additional charge," he says. "It has enabled our customers to achieve great returns on their investments."

In the increasingly complex information-management world, partners appreciate the way Microsoft has simplified things by providing products--like SQL Server and Small Business Server--that appeal to a variety of businesses.

"They've taken their core products and ratified the code to run on a single server, and they've factored down enterprise-level software to run on an SMB box with the same dependability as their enterprise tools," says James Snodgrass, owner of PC Networking, a solution provider in Phoenix.

At the other end of the spectrum is Oracle. Never one of the channel's favorites, Oracle posted some of the most dismal scores in the survey, regardless of product category, particularly in sales partnering. In recent years, Oracle has gone through several channel executives. But it has new leaders in Bernie Dennis and Rauline Ochs. They may yet help turn things around.