IDC Corp has calculated that the datawarehousing tools market will be worth $8bn in 2002, fueled by the increased adoption of data warehousing and the internet. IDC’s Data Warehouse Tools: 1998 Worldwide Markets and Trends says that the market will see 23% compound growth over that time, with the information access tools area showing the strongest growth, now that warehouses have evolved from the early implementation stage. Information access tools will account for a 44% share of the market in 2002, compared to 27% in 1997, predicts the report. The warehouse generation market is already fragmented with four sub-markets spanning 12 niches, making it unlikely that a single vendor will predominate, while the database management tools market will consolidate further as the big database vendors flex their muscles.
