While no one will argue that the four IT mega vendors (IBM, SAP, Oracle and Microsoft) are an insignifcant part of the Business Intelligence landscape, Mary Hayes Weier's recent article in Intelligent Enterprise "How to Choose Among the Four Bright Lights of BI" definitely overstates the case for their prominence.*

Even if you concede that these vendors are the bright lights of BI--which is debatable--they're definitely not the ones generating heat.  At the moment, hot topics abound in Business Intelligence.  Dynamic visualization is hot.  In-memory analytics, also hot. Real-time Business Intelligence and convergence of BI with other enterprise technologies are also hot topics.  The list goes on, and all of the tools that will ultimately result in the realization of that hottest of topics, Pervasive BI, are themselves hot.  Looking at these topics and technologies, however, one notices a distinct lack of mega-vendors leading the way.  In the cases where they are doing something, it's because they've recently acquired a smaller company that was cutting edge (Microsoft's buying FAST for enterprise search comes to mind).

So sure, maybe they're the leading lights, but they're hardly blazing trails. 

Doug Henschen--the Editor-in-Chief at Intelligent Enterprise--makes some points along these lines, noting that the field is still open for innovation:

[T]his is just the beginning of the journey for the mega vendors in BI, and it's just the beginning for a market that could easily be redefined by developments we can scarcely imagine. The "Bright Lights" article offers a solid analysis of the mega vendor paths forward, but I'd submit that these four companies don't control the destiny of the market or the limits of what you'll be able to do with BI technology in the years ahead.

I agree completely, but I'd take what Doug is saying a step further.  I don't think that IBM, SAP, Oracle or Microsoft control the destiny of what you can you with BI technology now.  They may be talking about moving beyond BI's traditional userbase, but they're not the ones actually doing it. 

* More preceisely, the title overstates the case--the article itself turns out to be an easily digestible comparison of the BI offerings of the mega-vendors.  Interesting, but much less provocative than the title indicates.