Summary
In Forrester's 153-criteria evaluation of enterprise open source and closed source database management systems (DBMSes), we found that Oracle, IBM, Microsoft, and Sybase lead the pack because each offers mature, high-performance, scalable, secure, and flexible solutions. It was no surprise to see Oracle dominating in most of the features and functionality such as performance, availability, security, and administration. IBM DB2 for Linux, UNIX, and Windows showed strong support for application and data integration, performance, scalability, and administration, while Microsoft has impressive capabilities for database programmability, application development, administration, and security. Sybase Adaptive Server Enterprise continues to show improvement in its product, offering good support for availability, performance, and administration. IBM Informix Dynamic Server, MySQL, and Ingres came out as Strong Performers, following very closely on the heels of the Leaders and offering very respectable alternatives and a multitude of choices for application developers and architects. PostgreSQL lacks the Leaders' breadth of features but is a reputable Contender for some use cases.
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