Microsoft Takes Lead in OLAP Industry

Microsoft Takes Lead in OLAP Industry "Microsoft Corp. announced results of independent research demonstrating that it continued to take charge of the business intelligence (BI) industry in 2002, claiming the leadership position in online analytical processing (OLAP). The findings are presented in The OLAP Report, a leading source of independent research and analysis of the OLAP industry (http://www.olapreport.com/Market.htm). Microsoft, which doubled its installed base in 2001, followed with further growth in 2002 to overtake Hyperion Solutions Corp. as leader in the $3.5 billion industry, with 24.4 percent of total sales worldwide. Microsoft first integrated OLAP into the SQL Server (TM) relational database in 1998.
"Microsoft's SQL Server Analysis Services grew faster than the market and therefore increased its market share again," said Nigel Pendse, lead author of the OLAP Report and the OLAP Survey, in this year's market share report. "As in previous years, usage of Analysis Services grew faster than SQL Server itself, as Oracle and DB2 sites continue to select Analysis Services to build BI solutions on top of their existing relational databases."
Microsoft's growth continued in an overall low-growth year for the business intelligence industry, with several vendors declining; Oracle Corp., for example, dropped out of the top six this year, continuing several years of decline to just 4.7 percent of the OLAP segment."