Survey: Most Companies Use Microsoft SQL Server

Survey: Most Companies Use Microsoft SQL ServerAccording to Internet market research and strategic consulting expert Zona Research, Microsoft SQL Server continues as the database used by most of the companies responding to a recent poll. Zona asked panel participants which enterprise data sources they currently use in their organizations’ Web server applications. The results were compared with previous survey results.Growing in use from 56 percent of the responding companies in third-quarter 1999, Microsoft SQL Server was used in fourth-quarter 1999 by more than two-thirds, or 68 percent, of the respondents. Oracle usage remained level at 42 percent, and IBM DB2 third-quarter usage grew from 13 percent to 19 percent in the fourth quarter. Use of ODBC to access data sources, such as Excel and Lotus 123, shrank from 37 percent of responding companies in the third quarter to 30 percent in the fourth quarter.The data measures the horizontal propensity of companies to use given data resources rather than the volume of data transacted from given databases. The data also shows that Microsoft SQL Server, as the default relational database with many Windows NT development environments, has a high degree of penetration among greenfield applications and other new projects.Other enterprise data sources listed by responding companies include Flat File, Sybase, Mainframe IMS, Informix, DB-400, and CA-Ingres.Survey results represent responses from 81 companies.