Abstract
This IDC study forwards a reliable approach to addressing a vexing question
that has dogged the software industry: just how many independent software
vendors (ISVs) are there in the world? Although IDC has developed techniques
that enable us to account for the total worldwide software revenue, this is the
first time that we have also established the total number of worldwide ISVs.
IDC has therefore developed a model - presented here - that enables us to
calculate the total number of worldwide independent software vendors, segment
these vendors by revenue size class, and identify their collective revenue
contribution.
"Although a relatively small number of ISVs account for the majority of the
worldwide software revenue, the large number of ISVs with annual revenue less
than or equal to $10 million are really the unsung heroes of the software
industry," says Stephen D. Hendrick, group vice president of Application
Development and Deployment Research at IDC.