Where the Database Market Goes From Here – tecosystems

Where the Database Market Goes From Here – tecosystems: "Given that the database market is subject to the same market forces as other enterprise categories, on premises software both specialized and general purpose is likely to be a tightening market over time. There is a great deal of revenue to be had in the category, without question, but it will be more difficult to obtain as there is more competition generally, more competition from open source specifically and on premises alternatives increasingly compete directly with service based alternatives.



These price pressures are one reason vendors are increasingly moving back towards general purpose datastores from specialized roots: the broader the functional capabilities, the wider the addressable market, at least in theory.

Even long time database incumbents, however, are scrambling to develop or acquire their way into service-based businesses because that is where much of the growth will occur. Whether adopted as more convenient stand-alone alternatives to on premises databases or deployed in conjunction with other cloud infrastructure, DBaaS offerings are attractive to both developers and their employers, if for very different reasons. Importantly, this is the case in spite of the fact that the DBaaS market is in its infancy; many popular databases are not yet available as services, and those that are don’t yet have the provider choice that they will ultimately. Which implies that the DBaaS market has been successful, to a degree, in spite of itself.

From a provider perspective, then, a choice is implied.



The existing spend on on premises relational solutions is measured in tens of billions of dollars, which is why many database providers today still regard their primary market competition as Oracle, even if they’re selling non-relational solutions. Vendors focused on trajectory, however, tend to see Amazon as the more important target, given that the most common report when talking to purveyors of on premises software is that a significant percentage of their existing customers are already in the cloud and most of those are on Amazon.

Implied choice or not, however, a legitimate market approach is also not to choose.



On premises providers in most cases will need to follow the lead of players like MongoDB, because competing with DBaaS players without an as-a-service option is a non-starter. Worse, competitors that operate as-a-service businesses have an enormous intelligence advantage over purely on premises competitors, thanks to the difference in available operational telemetry. But neither should on premises vendors deprecate their existing business; instead, they can differentiate from pure play as-a-service options by offering customers their choice of running in an existing datacenter or in the cloud.

 What is clear, however, is that a status quo approach in this market is one that will lead to diminishing returns over time. Choose your path carefully."



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