Database titans clash in war of words

IBM has vowed to surpass arch-rival Oracle in the database market and has slammed its 'confusing' pricing policy.

A report released today by IBM claims that the total cost of ownership (TCO) of its database solutions is up to 52 per cent lower than adversary Oracle, and that increasing numbers of Oracle customers are jumping ship to IBM's simpler pay-per-processor pricing model. IBM claims that not only is its DB2 technology cheaper than the Oracle 9i offering, it is also quicker to install, provides higher levels of automation and contains more integrated features. Mike Blake, marketing manager for data management at IBM UK, said: "We've known for years that Oracle has a pricing policy problem. Their own customers will tell them that. Their own user group will tell them that, whoever you talk to, except Oracle, will tell you that Oracle pricing sucks." However, Oracle refutes this claim and adds that IBM's research is "short-sighted" and biased in favour of Big Blue. A spokesman for Oracle said IBM neglected some key factors in the TCO report, such as the costs of consultation and hardware. He added that when these factors are taken into consideration then IBM costs spiral. The spokesman pointed to a report commissioned by Oracle last September. The Oracle 8i was reported to be 28 per cent lower in TCO and to support up to 60 per cent more users than IBM's DB2. He added: "Many of IBMs costs are hidden in 'solutions' deals, and the proprietary nature of IBMs hardware and software offerings also creates 'lock-ins' for customers. DB2 is not optimised for non-IBM platforms such as HP and Sun." But IBM's Blake denied this. "Look at Oracle applications - what other database do they run on? Oracle 9i tried to bundle software together. If that's not a lock in, I don't know what is," he said. "Lets face it. It's a two horse race and we're winning," he added.