A report by research and consulting company IDC says that HP-Mercury Interactive has made Hewlett Packard Co. (NYSE:HPQ) the unchallenged leader in the automated software quality tools market. HP acquired Mercury in 2006 for $4.5 billion.
HP-Mercury has a strong lead over other companies in the sector, with a 62% market share in 2005, almost four times more than its second-placed competitor, IBM Corp. (NYSE:IBM). Other companies in the sector are Compuware Corporation (Nasdaq:CPWR), Intel Corporation (Nasdaq:INTC), and Empirix Inc. RadView Software Ltd. (Bulletin Board:RDVWF.OB) has less than a 1% share of this market.
IDC says that HP-Mercury had 27.4% growth in the automated software quality tools market in 2005, driving the $950 million market forward. The market is believed to have exceeded $1 billion in 2006. IDC does not think that the market is saturated, and says that there is room for further growth. Software testing is still mostly done manually at many companies, giving plenty of room for penetrating automated solutions. IDC predicts that HP will continue to dominate the market and that it will expand its market share.
HP Israel software group head Limor Afik said, “In recent years, the obligation of enterprise IT managers to improve the quality and performance of critical system has increased. This fact motivates us to provide them with the best possible tools. Our position in the market, the high quality of our solutions, and focus on customers’ needs and challenges helps us strengthen our position with them in this unsaturated market, which is expected to continue to grow rapidly in the coming years.”
Published by Globes [online], Israel business news - www.globes.co.il - on February 27, 2007
© Copyright of Globes Publisher Itonut (1983) Ltd. 2007