International Data Corp says that the European programmer development tools market for 1997 grew only modestly to $7bn from 1996 to 1997, up only 1.4% over previous year’s revenues of $6.9bn. Database management systems accounted for over half of the revenues, with components, objects and developments next at 30%, and development and life cycle management tools at 20%. Although all database markets are growing, and relational is still by far the largest sector, object-relational databases are growing at 43%, though from a small base point. Datawarehouses and data marts are one of the biggest drivers of market growth, says the new report. But they won’t reach their full potential until DBMS products in general are easier to understand and use by information systems professionals, says IDC. The healthy growth in the database sector will also help drive the market for data modeling tools. Other brighter areas include web-enabled and web-centric tools, and (driven by the Y2K problem) redemption tools, software configuration management and testing tools aimed at legacy adoption. Y2K will hold back other new technology adoption, however. Programmer Development Tools: 1998 Market and Trends in Western Europe is available from IDC.
