The relational database market grew nearly 12% in 2004, with both vendors picking up market share.

The worldwide relational-database software market grew a relatively robust 12% to $15.0 billion in 2004, according to preliminary figures released Monday by market researcher IDC. Oracle and Microsoft both gained market share while IBM, despite increased sales of its DB2 database, saw its share of the database market shrink last year. Database software sales have grown slowly in recent years and some analysts view relational databases as mature technology. Much of last year's gain was attributed to companies increasing their database software purchases to reduce their backlog of database-management projects. But IDC says currency-exchange rates accounted for some of the growth. Vendors also face increasing pricing pressures on database software. Oracle's database sales grew at a rate of 14.5% in 2004 to $6.2 billion, giving it a 41.3% share of the relational database market, according to IDC. In 2003 Oracle held a 40.3% market share. "We're very pleased with results that extended our lead over our nearest competitor," said Willie Hardie, Oracle's senior director of database product marketing.