Progress Software has retained its leadership in the embedded database market for the fourth consecutive year, according to a study conducted by Gartner Dataquest. The study, entitled, "2000 Database Management Systems Software Market Share", identifies Progress as the embedded database segment leader, with 20.7% market share.
The report says the market expects embedded databases to perform to high standards, yet require minimal maintenance and place low demands on processors.
"Leaders in this market must provide a database that is almost invisible to the end-user, while still providing the scalability and robustness typical of larger, more resource-intensive, enterprise databases," says Colleen Graham, industry analyst at Gartner Dataquest.
More than 2 million users worldwide use the Progress database, an integral part of the OpenEdge E-Business Platform. Over 5 000 applications have been built around the database by some 2 000 Progress independent software vendors (ISVs).
"Progress wouldn`t have this market-leading position without the success of our ISV partners worldwide and the satisfaction of our end-user customers," says Rick Parry, MD of Progress SA. "Our products have proven they meet the needs of professional application developers and their users, ranging from small IT shops with limited resources to global giants. But we`re not resting on our laurels. With OpenEdge, we have extended our products and service and support to provide a complete e-business platform for our customers who need to create compelling solutions for today`s business needs."
Gartner has not been alone in its estimation of Progress. In its most recent report on the database market, IDC named Progress as the undisputed leader in its category and likely to remain so for the foreseeable future.
"As an RDBMS, Progress 9 has made great strides towards greater scalability and performance, while maintaining the features that make it embeddable within software products," says Carl Olofson, programme director, information and data management software research at IDC.
In an impact study published last year, the Aberdeen Group noted the special requirements for an embedded database and cited Progress for its ability to address these needs. A key finding of the reassessment was that embedded database users should focus on administrative costs above all else.
Comparing Progress to it main competitor, Oracle, the report said that, even if Oracle8i`s licence and deployment costs approached zero, Progress would still have a lower visible cost of ownership (VCO) because its "near-lights-out" administrative tools allow users to deploy and operate applications involving Progress with almost no need for a database administrator.
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Progress Software South Africa supplies Progress`s branded software technology and services for developing, deploying, integrating, and managing e-business solutions. It provides a comprehensive suite of products that includes application development tools, application servers, messaging servers, and the industry`s most widely used, lowest-cost-of-ownership embedded database.
Increasingly, Progress is leveraging its more than 2 000 independent software vendors (ISVs) and application service providers (ASPs), to co-operate and consolidate their activities through networking and consultancy.
In 2000, Progress launched POSSE, its open source development initiative to allow Progress developers and ISVs worldwide to collaborate to create better, faster and more reliable development tools. This, in turn, is expected to enable users to more effectively develop `Future Proof` applications.
Progress ISVs supply annually over $5 billion in Progress-based applications and related services. Over 40 000 organisations across more than 100 countries - including 60% of the Fortune 100 - rely on Progress-based applications. The Progress Company is headquartered in Bedford, Mass. See www.progress.com for more information.
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