Analyst firm Gartner predicts a slow growth in the Business Intelligence (BI) market during 2008 because of its increasing maturity. Gartner expects the BI market growth rate to be at 12.5 percent this year, and to move beyond $7 billion by 2011. Nigel Rayner, Gartner research vice president, said that as markets mature, growth rates tend to decrease and this leads to consolidation. “Increasing consolidation in a market reflects its maturity,” he added.