According to figures from market research institute Gartner, the global application infrastructure and middleware software (AIM software) market grew by 8.8% to US$ 23.8 billion in 2014 compared with the previous year. This market has therefore performed better than the overall software market, which, in the same period, recorded growth of just 5.7% to a volume of US$ 428.6 billion.
The two market leaders are IBM and Oracle – together they share around 43% of the market. Lagging behind with a market share of 4.9% is Seattle group Microsoft. In fourth place comes Salesforce, with a market share of 3.1%, followed by German company Software AG at fifth place with 2.3%. However, last year, it was Salesforce that recorded the strongest rate of growth: 55.2%.
Overall, the analysts from Gartner have observed the growing importance of AIM software, which increasingly serves as a basis for mobile applications, big data and in-memory and cloud computing. They also believe that it has a key role to play for the transition of companies to the Internet of Things. Instead of replacing existing AIM installations, however, the Gartner analysts found that companies are focusing more on integrating external solutions, and thereby using Platform as a Service (PaaS) more. In addition, they stated that some specialist manufacturers are now offering cloud-based alternatives to mobile middleware. (Source: Gartner/rf)