Oracle Business part from middleware software and application software

A large part of Oracle's business in the database software giant comes from middleware software and application software. Analysts Trefis the Oracle stock target at $36, while the database software business contributed about 38% of the valuation, middleware software business contributed 24%, and the application software business contributed 24%. Despite fierce competition from rivals such as IBM and Microsoft, Oracle has been publishing middleware software market share since 2006. Now, let's analyze whether these rivals will continue to hinder Oracle's ability to occupy greater market share. Middleware software is software that is between the operating system and the application, and some people think it should be part of the operating system. Trefis estimates that the market share of Oracle middleware has risen from 8% in 2006 to 16% in 2009. Oracle's market share will continue to grow, but it will slow down by nearly 20% by 2016. IBM's market share grew more moderate, from 28% in 2006 to 31% in 2008. Microsoft, the weaker player in the market, grew from 2.4% in 2006 to 3.6% in 2008. Oracle's rapid rise in market share was attributed to the acquisition of Bea in April 2008 (the world's leading application infrastructure software company). After the acquisition, Oracle has an important middleware tool such as WebLogic servers (a tool for deploying Java Enterprise Applications) and tuxedo, a tool for deploying mainframe applications. Because middleware is closely linked to databases and applications, it is widely expected that as Oracle continues to expand its database and application market share, its middleware market share will not increase. Although the market share of IBM and Microsoft in middleware has grown more slowly in the past, they pose a threat to Oracle's expansion. If competition from IBM and Microsoft has stalled growth in Oracle Middleware market share, Oracle's valuation will have a downside risk. Trefis predicts that if Oracle middleware software market share drops to around 12% instead of the current forecast of 20%, its valuations will fall by about 5%.