As the application infrastructure and middleware sector grows Gartner has named IBM the leader in the market--one of IT's most lucrative. 

In Gartner’s report "All Software Markets Worldwide 2013" IBM receives top billing in the application infrastructure and middleware software space with 30 percent market share.

This makes 2013 the thirteenth consecutive year that IBM has led this sector.

The worldwide application infrastructure and middleware software market grew 5.6 percent to $21.5 billion according to Gartner.

"We believe the latest Gartner report underscores IBM's ongoing commitment to delivering unmatched capabilities that help our clients transform their businesses for long term value" says Steve Mills Senior Vice President and Group Executive IBM Software & Systems in a release. "We feel today's news further demonstrates the continued success of our strategy that serves as a catalyst to helping transform the industry's most pressing business and societal challenges."

In the critical Business Process Management category IBM was named the number one vendor in BPMS software with 29 percent share more than triple that of its closest competitor. BPMS software helps improve business growth and agility and is an area of innovation as enterprises demand mobile deployments of BPM software.

Gartner also reported that IBM remains number one in other noteworthy segments and leads in eight out of the 11 application infrastructure and middleware markets. Based on IBM client feedback there is a demand for organizations to link together big data mobile cloud and social computing technologies into core enterprise software systems.

Click here to read the full release.