According to IDC's Rob Hailstone, author of the report, "Oracle has achieved a remarkable success in showing 15.7 percent growth in a very difficult year - and in closing the gap between itself and the pair of leading vendors IBM and BEA."

In 2002, the Oracle9i Application Server customer base in Europe, Middle East and Africa (EMEA) grew with the acquisition of new customers in a variety of industries. Some of Oracle's customers include Deutsche Post, the Bavarian Police, Draeger Safety, Metro MGI, NEC Electronics Europe and O2 in Germany; Arma Lease, Elsevier Reed Publishing, Boskalis Centraal Boekhuis in the Netherlands; NGTransco and the Vehicle Inspectorate (VOSA) in UK; Chep SA and South Africa Sugar in South Africa; and CARRIS, Entreposto V.H. and APDL in Portugal.

"As the application server market matures and consolidates, IDC's report confirms Oracle is now the one to watch in this space," says Peter Perregaard, vice president of Oracle's Technology Business in Europe, Middle East and Africa. "The growth in our EMEA customer base shows that we are clearly delivering what our competitors cannot match. Many organizations are now benefiting from Oracle9i Application Server's functionality, high performance and low cost, and the word is getting around that Oracle's offering is the best and most complete middleware option available."

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1) "Western European Application Server Software Platforms Competitive Analysis 2003" - IDC