Gartner: Consolidation to put squeeze on businesses

NEWS

The announcement of Logica's takeover of CMG has fuelled speculation at Gartner's Symposium/ITxpo in Cannes about further consolidation in the information technology industry as it approaches another year gripped by recession. Under the circumstances, Gartner said its analysts are advising clients to be cautious about any new expenditures, particularly where it comes to IT hardware. The view of a panel of Gartner analysts at a press conference on Tuesday was that three big companies will come to dominate the most important information technology categories of hardware, infrastructure, software and applications. In software, Gartner sees the big three "stack" software vendors -- IBM, Oracle and Microsoft -- increasing their grip on customers. "Each one of the vendors is trying to own more and more of the stack... their desire is to have you locked into their solution," said Gartner vice president Betsy Burton. "This is a game of world domination. They lock you into their infrastructure and you have to buy more of their products." Gartner sees a similar picture in hardware, with Dell, HP and IBM dominating and all other players coming under increasing pressure. Gartner, Brian Gammage, named Acer, Fujitsu Siemens, Toshiba, NEC and Apple as among those under particular strain. "Basically anybody who is not IBM, HP or Dell," he said. Gartner advises caution as the consequences of market consolidation present themselves. "We are advising our clients to keep a very close eye on their suppliers, because their suppliers are subject to the forces of consolidation. If they are signing contracts for hardware they need to make sure they are protecting themselves," said Gammage. He is advising companies to make good use of existing hardware. "Sweat the assets. Get more from them. Use them until they break or until they are giving you a productivity penalty," he said. Business infrastructure software will not escape the consolidation trend, Gartner anticipates. "There are going to be three leading infrastructure vendors. I typically say three and a half of software vendors in infrastructure, and they are Oracle, IBM and Microsoft... that half is Sun," said Burton. "Right now Sun's on the edge of not holding on to that half position. I'm not willing to give them a whole position." "In applications it's going to be Peoplesoft, SAP, and Siebel... Siebel's biggest challenge is moving beyond CRM," she said. One path for Siebel could be to acquire companies, a route that Burton says may be difficult due to cultural factors. "Siebel has a very big culture. Let me leave it at that," she said. She singled out BEA and Sun as two software companies that may have a hard time maintaining their current position. Borland also has a question mark hanging over it. Borland will "have to grow or shrink. They can't stay where they are for the next five years," said one panellist.

For a round-up of the latest tech business coverage, see the Business News Section. Have your say instantly, and see what others have said. Go to the ZDNet news forum. Let the editors know what you think in the Mailroom.

Post your comment

In order to post a comment you need to be registered and logged in.

You can also log in with Facebook. Log in or create your ZDNet UK account below

By signing up for this service, you indicate that you agree to our Terms and Conditions and have read and understood our Privacy Policy. Questions about membership? Find the answers in the Community FAQ

ZDNet UK Live

Make that 13 people now - I got refused today at Manchester airport. I thought I was up to date on this legislation - I knew of the EU ruling from...

3 hours ago by bootlegger on UK airport body scans will not be opt out

Don't forget to check out apps like GoodReader or SlideShark either, they're indispensible for people on the go in presentation situations. Best...

5 hours ago by tinycg on Four top iPad apps for people on the move

Well it seems there is something a number of us agree on. Why is the Ubuntu Unity launcher so ugly? I thought perhaps it was something to do with...

10 hours ago by TerryRK on A tale of two distros: Ubuntu and Linux Mint

Duplicate comments are not made intentionally. Its very good to know that now you are keeping check on this problem because sometimes a commenter...

19 hours ago by Freebies202 on Microsoft fixes blog comments, speeds up blogs with open source

"the very significant number of users" and "many (most) of us" - you have no evidence for these statements. It is a fact that most users are saying...

1 day ago by kevinmchapman on A tale of two distros: Ubuntu and Linux Mint

Another grammar faux pas is the improper use of "you". When sitting down down in a restaurant, for example, I get cringe when the waitress...

1 day ago by Marg Menzies Harrison via Facebook on 10 flagrant grammar mistakes that make you look stupid

And NOW, folks, for Canonical's next trick... Kubuntu is late. Here's a pencil. Draw your own conclusions. cf.:...

1 day ago by zdnetukuser on Linux Minterface

@kevinmchapman. The discussion here reflects the very significant number of users who really do like the traditional menu system and who wish to...

1 day ago by Moley on A tale of two distros: Ubuntu and Linux Mint

Er, no... It is an efficient means of finding the application/file/setting you need in one place. The icons are a simply a fallback for when you...

1 day ago by kevinmchapman on A tale of two distros: Ubuntu and Linux Mint

Isn't the provision of a text based search an admission by the developers that the mass of icons approach does not work? I don't need to use a...

1 day ago by TerryRK on A tale of two distros: Ubuntu and Linux Mint

"Unity and GNOME 3 both abandon the old text-based cascading menus in favour of a graphical icon-driven system." Point truly missed. Both use a...

1 day ago by kevinmchapman on A tale of two distros: Ubuntu and Linux Mint

whs001 - Thank you, I'm glad you liked the article. I absolutely agree with you on your first point. I should perhaps have made it clearer that...

1 day ago by TerryRK on A tale of two distros: Ubuntu and Linux Mint

If we allow corporate interest to dictate the way our government circumvents due process against foreign entities then we should accept the same...

2 days ago by Dennis Nilsson via Facebook on ACTA stumbles in Germany

I totally dislike pirating of works, I fear that artists will be deterred from creating works if they think that they are going to get ripped off....

2 days ago by GHar123 on ACTA stumbles in Germany

How dare film makers, artists or anybody that invests in creativity stop us pirating their works for free. I want to be able to walk into my local...

2 days ago by JCB33 on ACTA stumbles in Germany

@GrueMaster. I prefer horses for courses rather than one size fits all. I, and I suspect most other computer users, do not really wish to have...

2 days ago by Moley on A tale of two distros: Ubuntu and Linux Mint

The product that scares me every time I have to use it is the Office 2007 version of Excel. The first bug that I found was applying the median...

2 days ago by greycynic on Ten flawed products that derail productivity

Nice review and very informative. One thing I'd like to add (in reply to whs001's 1st question), the main reason to have the same interface from...

2 days ago by GrueMaster on A tale of two distros: Ubuntu and Linux Mint

I'be been using Mint 12 since the RC came out, and I am far more happy with the Cinnamon, the Mate, and, yes (with extensions), theGnome 3...

2 days ago by Frederick Wrigley via Facebook on A tale of two distros: Ubuntu and Linux Mint

Excellent article. One small correction, though--although a fresh installation of Linux Mint 12 will, indeed, provide the user with a version of...

2 days ago by bdantas on A tale of two distros: Ubuntu and Linux Mint

Featured white papers

Latest jobs

Gartner: Consolidation to put squeeze on businesses

Daily Newsletters

Topics

Related stories

Tablet PCs to catch on slowly, says Gartner

Gartner sees no economic recovery in sight

Knowledge workers hold key to survival

Dell tells critics: We do innovate

Logica swoops for CMG in £510m deal

Post your comment

ZDNet UK Live

Latest in IT Strategy

Heart of England NHS begins massive digitisation plan

Hard-drive woes hit PC shipments in fourth quarter

Featured white papers

Latest jobs

PHP Web Developer - html, css, javascript

Java Developer, Online Gaming, London

Quant Dev, Hedge Fund, FX, Excel VBA

Inside ZDNet UK

A tale of two distros: Ubuntu and Linux Mint

2012 Predictions: VCE FastPath, VI SAN Probe & Hadoop

BlackBerry Bold 9790

Make faster, smarter decisions using BI

Ten factors that make Ubuntu 11.10 a hit

Toshiba Portégé Z830-10P Review

BT's archive: Pictures from the vault

News & Analysis

Reviews

Blogs

Resources

About Us

Member Services

Special Features

Advertising Features

ZDNet UK / News and Analysis / Business of IT / IT Strategy

Gartner: Consolidation to put squeeze on businesses

Daily Newsletters

Topics

Related stories

Post your comment

Get ZDNet UK's daily newsletter

Enter your email address to sign up

ZDNet UK Live

Latest in IT Strategy

Featured white papers

Latest jobs

Inside ZDNet UK

Resources

About Us

Member Services

Special Features

Advertising Features