IDC Report :: Embedded Databases
IDC Analyst Connection
Embedded Databases: The Invisible Engine That Could
Carl W. Olofson, August 2005
The embedded database management system (DBMS) market grew 15% to $1.86 billion in
2004, driven by continued demand for applications that can stand alone and work
"out of the box" without user setup and without a database administrator (DBA).
Types of applications driving this demand range across the board, from large server-based
applications to small mobile applications and desktop tools. IDC expects the market
for embedded database management systems to continue growing over the next five
years, fueled by demand for self-contained applications that can manage data without
a DBA. In particular, this trend will be supported by an increasing emphasis on
fully self-contained packaged applications; falling prices for IT, resulting in
increased adoption by price-sensitive smaller businesses that require operationally
affordable software because they have no DBA staff; and the DBA shortage, which
continues to get worse, increasing demand for DBA-less databases.
In this IDC report, Carl
Olofson, Research Director of IDC's Application Development and Deployment Group,
answers the following questions which were posed by db4objects on behalf of its
independent software vendor (ISV) customers:
- What is an embedded database, and how does it differ from enterprise databases?
- What impact does the open source phenomenon have on embedded databases?
- Object-oriented databases are often seen as an unsuccessful technology.
Do you think embedded object-oriented DBMSs will create a resurgence in this technology?
Download the IDC report