Ad break: Oracle gets its claws into IBM

Oracle is to hammer arch-rival IBM in a new global advertising campaign for database 9i.

After being the butt of IBM jokes for its old pricing policy, the database giant is about to fire back with its own controversial campaign in the next fortnight.

Taking advantage of a recent EU relaxation on comparative advertising rules, the new campaign will highlight benchmark results, taken from IBM's own website, which show Oracle databases run faster on IBM hardware than IBM's own DB2.

Oracle has never held back in its rivalry with IBM and at this week's Oracle OpenWorld conference, Oracle CEO Larry Ellison was fiery in his criticism of the company.

Ridiculing the benchmark results, he thanked IBM for providing Oracle with its marketing ammunition, and said: "If IBM hardware guys chose to work with Oracle you'd wonder why anyone would go with DB2. They can't even sell it to their own guys across the hall - and it's free to them."

Fighting back, Thomas Gregers Honore, database marketing manager EMEA at IBM, told silicon.com IBM will not participate in a mudslinging match.

"It's not IBM's style to make a counter attack. I don't think our customers appreciate mudslinging. The only important thing is that we deliver on what we promise," he said. Defending IBM's decision to post the benchmark results on its site, he said they proved that IBM produced very fast hardware.

While comparative advertising is common in the US it has only become a trend in the UK in recent years. If IBM decides the campaign is offensive it won't find much sympathy in the courts, according to Charles Swan, a partner with media legal firm Simkins.

"The courts are very unreceptive to these battles. They see these companies as children squabbling. They prefer the Advertising Standards Authority or Office of Fair Trading to sort it out."