Gartner Dataquest Says Software Vendors Are in a Fierce Battle for Emerging Portal Market

Additional Analysis to Be Presented at Upcoming Gartner Application Integration and Web Services Conference, June 17-19 in Los Angeles

SAN JOSE, Calif., June 10, 2002 - The worldwide portal market grew 59 percent in 2001, with new license revenue totaling $709 million, according to Dataquest Inc., a unit of Gartner, Inc. (NYSE: IT and ITB).

With the market poised for strong growth through 2006, major software vendors are battling to take a leadership position. At this time, there is still no clear market leader. The top three vendors, Plumtree, SAP and IBM, were tied for the No. 1 ranking in 2001 (see Table 1).

"The net result of the IT spending slowdown and the more cautious tone for emerging new software companies made IBM, Sun and SAP a safe bet and helped pull in more portal revenues," said Joanne Correia, vice president for Gartner Dataquest's Software Industry Research group. "The result was that the large software vendors gained market share of new license revenue at the expense of the pure play portal vendors."

Plumtree was the only pure play portal vendor to be ranked in the top five of the market. Plumtree's success has been attributed to being early to market, good channel partners and a very strong brand.

Table 1
Worldwide Horizontal Portal Vendors Market Share Based on New License Revenue
 
Company 2001 Market Share (%) 2000 Market Share (%) Revenue Growth (%)
Plumtree 7 5 125
SAP 7 NA NA
IBM 7 3 233
Sun Microsystems 6 7 29
BroadVision 5 NA NA
Others 68 85 26
Total 100 100 59

NA = Not Applicable
Source: Gartner Dataquest (June 2002)

Gartner Dataquest says the portal product market is at the tail end of the first round of consolidation in which the large software vendors have market momentum. The first two rounds of shakeouts started in early 2001 and should peak by late 2002. The overcrowded nature of a market populated by small, venture-capital-funded, unprofitable companies, exacerbated by the U.S. economic slowdown, started the elimination of over 50 percent of the more than 100 portal software vendors.

"The large independent software vendors (ISVs) embedded portals services into their platforms and have elevated higher-level functionality to premium portal software products. The second round of shakeouts is happening, driven by the actions of the large ISVs, and will take half of the smaller ISVs," said Correia. "The remaining small ISVs will position themselves out of the portal market into vertical industry segments or horizontal functionality, become a niche player, be acquired by other software vendors, or close their doors."

Additional information is available in the Gartner Dataquest Research Brief, "Portal Market Share Too Close to Call." This report examines trends for the industry, and the report provides analysis on how the top-tier vendors have performed.

This information is produced by Gartner Dataquest's Worldwide Software Industry group. This research group provides analysis on infrastructure and application product market trends, player positioning and channels of the packaged business application software market. To subscribe to Gartner Dataquest's Software Applications or Infrastructure Worldwide programs, please call 408-468-8000. Reports can be purchased on the Internet at www.gartner.com.

More detailed analysis on the application integration industry will be presented at Gartner's Application Integration and Web Services conference, June 17-19 at the Westin Century Plaza in Los Angeles. This conference will examine the key technology trends in the industry, as well as the return on investment, best practices in design and management, as well as case studies on what is working and what is not. More information on this conference can be found on Gartner's Web site at www.gartner.com/2_events/conferences/apn8/apn8.jsp.

Gartner Dataquest is the recognized leader in providing the high-technology and financial communities with market intelligence for the semiconductor, computer systems and peripherals, communications, document management, software, and services sectors of the global information technology industry.

Gartner, Inc. is a research and advisory firm that helps more than 11,000 clients understand technology and drive business growth. Gartner's divisions consist of Gartner Research, Gartner Consulting, Gartner Measurement and Gartner Events. Founded in 1979, Gartner, Inc. is headquartered in Stamford, Connecticut, and consists of 4,300 associates, including 1,200 research analysts and consultants, in more than 90 locations worldwide. The company achieved fiscal 2001 revenue of $952 million. For more information, visit www.gartner.com.