American industry watchers say IBM`s $1 billion buy-out of the Informix database business will see Oracle on the back foot as it defends its turf.
IBM South Africa has already claimed databases and related software as its own, and says Oracle had better watch out.
"IBM has named a couple of key competitors and Oracle is one of those, as is Sun," says Richard Isaacs, IBM SA software group executive. "We will aggressively attack what we believe is our market, in SA as well as internationally."
Oracle SA scoffs at the suggestion that IBM could be a threat.
"We see the purchase of Informix as a vitamin injection for Oracle," says marketing director Marc Gower. "They will probably lose the market share they purchase while we are about to launch new products."
Gower says IBM has never competed effectively with Oracle because it has a confusing range of database products, and that the Informix purchase only adds four more databases to that range. Informix, he says, has not done research and development since the early 1990s, and the purchase is sure to cause insecurity among existing users.
Isaacs counters that the single Universal Database brand does not offer a confusion of products, and that IBM products scale better than those Oracle has to offer. "Customers are preparing themselves to enhance and use their data to gain a competitive advantage. They turn to us because of the scalability, our large investments and open standards.
"We are glad they [Oracle] are not concerned," Isaacs says. "Watch this space."
But Gower expresses confidence that Oracle technology is "miles ahead" of anything IBM has to offer.
Isaacs could not comment on the local integration of the Informix business, saying IBM would take its lead from international events. It is expected that the acquisition will be concluded in the third quarter. However, he says the two companies` management have already been in talks to "get to know each other".
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