Briefs

The OLAP market grew strongly in 2004, but measuring it is getting harder

2004 was the best year since 2000 for the OLAP industry, and all the vendors grew, though of course to varying extents. This caused changes in the market shares, but as there was no major consolidation in the year, the changes were less dramatic than in some previous years.

The long-forecast consolidation in the BI industry took off in 2003, with Business Objects, Cognos and Hyperion all widening their product ranges with significant acquisitions. However, neither Brio Software nor Crystal Decisions had significant OLAP business, so these acquisitions, though significant for the BI market as a whole, had relatively small impacts on OLAP market shares. Despite this consolidation, the market still remains relatively fragmented compared to, say the ERP or database markets, with three of the top five vendors losing net market share in 2004, and the other two making modest gains.

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