Relational database sales reached $7.79 bln in 2004, Oracle and IBM tied for top spot

Worldwide sales of new relational database software came to $7.79 bln in 2004, up from $7.06 bln in 2003, when growth was 5.1%. Growth in the business accelerated to 10.3%, Gartner said. Both Oracle and IBM sold more than $2.6 bln of new relational database products during 2004 with only $30 mln separating their revenue totals, a difference too close to statistically identify a winner. Microsoft followed in third place with sales of $1.56 bln, or 20% of the market, an increase from 18.7% in 2003.