News
Zona: SQL Server Most Popular Web Database
- By Scott Bekker
- January 21, 2000
A recent study by Zona Research found that Microsoft's SQL Server is used as the database for host-based applications by 68 percent of companies polled.
The study to determine the most popularly used database sources accessed by Web servers was conducted as part of the Zona Enterprise Usage Study, Web Application Servers for the fourth quarter of 1999. The study found Microsoft (www.microsoft.com) SQL Server to be the most popular, as well as having enjoyed a rise in popularity from Q3 1999, from 56 percent usage to 68 percent in Q4. Oracle remained in second place, at 42 percent usage, and IBM DB2 rose from 13 percent to 19 percent in one quarter. ODBC access to sources like Excel and Lotus actually shrank from 37 percent in Q3 1999 to 30 percent in Q4.
The study notes that while use of Microsoft SQL Server enjoyed the sharpest rise, the jump is largely due to the fact that SQL Server is the default database included with most Windows NT development environments. Oracle (www.oracle.com) and IBM (www.ibm.com) DB2 are still regarded as the heavy-use databases for transactional applications, and the 6 percent rise in the use of DB2 in Web applications may actually be the most significant change found in the Q4 study.
Zona (www.zonaresearch.com) expects to see a continuing rise in the use of Microsoft databases among enterprises, but also predicts that it will be a while before IBM DB2 and Oracle 8 databases fade from the scene. -- Isaac Slepner
About the Author
Scott Bekker is editor in chief of Redmond Channel Partner magazine.