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Sybase Struggles To Hold No. 2 Ranking

Disputes report that drops it behind Informix
By John Foley
Issue date: March 25, 1996

Has Sybase lost its position as the No. 2 supplier of database software? A debate on that question was sparked earlier this month when the Gartner Group, an IT advisory firm in Stamford, Conn., issued a report that ranked Sybase third in database revenue for 1995, relinquishing the runner-up spot to Informix. Oracle maintained a wide lead over both companies. "Sybase has sli pped behind Informix," says Gartner Group analyst Kevin Strange.

Not surprisingly, Sybase disagrees. On March 4, the Emeryville, Calif., company released a statement, supported by data from market researcher International Data Corp. and financial firm Hambrecht and Quist, that insists the company has held its No. 2 position. The statement read in part: "This ranking is borne out by every measure-total revenues, license revenues, and database revenues."

Like its competitors, Sybase does not disclose how much of its revenue comes from database software sales, forcing companies like Gartner to draw their own conclusions. But Sybase executives insist the company ended 1995 on a strong note, which they attribute to the Dec. 21 release of SQL Server 11.

The upgrade brought much-needed scalability to the company's core product. Sybase reports database licensing revenue jumped 23% from the third to fourth quarter-the biggest gain in eight quarters. "We're still strong, and we're going to be stronger," says Dan Lahl, Sybase director of server product marketing.

Indeed, three months after the release of SQL Server 11, Sybase has progress to report. This week, Sybase will announce the availability of SQL Server 11 on Microsoft's Windows NT operating system, and shortly thereafter, on Digital Equipment's 64-bit Digital Unix. The software now runs on Hewlett-Packard's HP-UX, IBM's AIX, and Sun Microsystems' Solaris.

Application support is also growing, with more than 100 software packages now running on SQL Server 11. PeopleSoft will join the list this week by announcing availability of PeopleSoft 5.1, human resources and financial applications, for SQL Server 11. Dave Duffield, CEO of PeopleSoft, says the companies have resolved technical problems that made earlier versions of their products incompatible. "Performance is good," says Duffield.

Lahl says Sybase has shipped 2,500 copies of SQL Server 11 to customers-with approximately 1, 100 of those sent to new accounts.

But Sybase has its work cut out. Gartner analyst Strange says SQL Server 11 trails competing products in key database technologies, such as row-level locking and internal parallelization.

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