Salesforce and VMware begin the new year with a move to the top 5 in the Lighthouse Software

Lighthouse Software Index - 2008-2009Salesforce.com and VMware have both moved up to the top 5 positions this year. Strategic acquisitions and user conferences have improved the score of salesforce.com in our index and it’s placed at the 4th spot. VMware has moved up 5 positions since January 2008 and is now at the 5th spot this month. Its reputation as a top technology firm has led it to be ranked as one of the top 20 firms to watch for in 2009 and it would be interesting to see if it can also maintain the growth of its revenues in 2009.

i2 Technologies is ranked 14 positions higher this month as compared to its ranking in January 2008. The firm was ranked in the top 25 in September 2008, as news of its tie up with JDA Software helped improve its score. However, it is now ranked 30th. Amdocs which has just completed the acquisition of ChangingWorlds has moved up 9 positions since January 2008 and is now ranked 25th.

Mercury is one of the biggest losers of 2008. The firm which is now part of Hewlett Packard has drifted down to the 46th spot and may drop further. Middleware vendor BEA has also dropped down 8 positions to the 14th spot in January 2009. This firm’s drop in ranking can also be attributed to its acquisition by Oracle which was completed in April 2008.

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Duncan Chapple