Last week, I told you that TIBCO Software (NASDAQ:TIBX) would impress with its fourth-quarter report. Today, the pudding has been served -- and it's full of proof.

TIBCO delivered record sales of $196 million and grew non-GAAP earnings from $0.21 per share to $0.23 per share after taking out $0.02 per share of one-time tax credits from last year's figure.

TIBCO's cash flow is positive, the debt load is much smaller than the cash account, and CEO Vivek Ranadive expects to keep 15% to 20% earnings growth going in 2010. That's a conservative estimate, mind you -- TIBCO based that number on the idea that the economy and IT markets will not rebound significantly over the next year. If that happens, consider it a bonus on top of what TIBCO will deliver in a tortoise-slow recovery.

It looks like TIBCO is still fighting the good fight against larger competitors like IBM (NYSE:IBM), SAP (NYSE:SAP), and Oracle (NASDAQ:ORCL) without missing a beat. The real-time nature of TIBCO's business intelligence software seems to fit the zeitgeist nowadays, when pundits wax poetic over Google (NASDAQ:GOOG) doing Twitter searches and TIBCO customer NYSE Euronext (NYSE:NYX) brags about microsecond trade execution.

That's why I believe that TIBCO will keep stealing contracts from under IBM's and Oracle's noses, until they develop their own real-time data exchange formats or simply throw up their hands and buy TIBCO wholesale.

The stock is up 8% today and not far from one-year and four-year highs. And I think we've only just seen the start of TIBCO's climb to the skies, as the company and its business data products are finally hitting the mainstream.

What do you think, dear Fool? Discuss TIBCO's future in the comments below.