IBM to Roll Out New Database Software

IBM Corp., taking aim at rival database giant Oracle Corp., plans to unveil today a new version of its DB2 database software that it says will make it easier for companies to manage large amounts of information.

IBM has been trying to beef up its software offerings in recent years, as software products often sell at higher margins than its hardware products, which are increasingly approaching commodity status.

Offering software along with IBM computers enables Big Blue to sell customers entire systems. IBM Senior Vice President Steven Mills, who is in charge of the Armonk, N.Y., company’s $13-billion software business, said IBM is not content with the gains it has made against Oracle in the market for large, complex database systems.

Oracle and IBM have been at loggerheads over databases for years, since IBM decided in the 1990s that Oracle’s market was one it wanted to own.