Sun Bets MySQL Can Penetrate Mission-Critical Deployments (
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Sun is banking that a marriage between it and MySQL will take
open-source databases into more mission-critical environments for
enterprise customers.Officials at Sun Microsystems are placing a $1 billion bet that the
acquisition of MySQL AB will create a strong opportunity for deeper
penetration of the enterprise market by open-source databases.
Calling it the biggest acquisition in the history of Sun, Sun CEO
Jonathan Schwartz said the move holds an enormous opportunity for
growth for both companies.
“The single biggest impediment to the growth of MySQL in our
estimation…is their ability to give peace of mind to a global company
that wants to put MySQL into mission-critical deployments, and it is
very clear to us that that is what our customers have come to expect
from Sun and we can deliver exactly that peace of mind…and that’s
exactly what we’ll be focused on immediately as we prepare to put the
two companies together,” he said in a conference call.
Sun is no stranger to the open-source community, and company
officials have said they are committed to enhancing the LAMP stack on
GNU/Linux, Microsoft Windows, OpenSolaris and MAC OS X.
“It is a big jump in the potential business for MySQL,” said Gartner
analyst Donald Feinberg, in an interview with eWEEK. “I do think
from an industry standpoint this is something that is pretty major
because this is something that will add credibility to open source
DBMS. But what I think what this really does is put a tremendous
pressure on Oracle, IBM, Sybase and Microsoft from a pricing
standpoint, because this makes it real – and now they are going to have
to wake up. Are you going to spend $8,000 a server or $40,000 a core?”
A study by
the Independent Oracle Users Group released in October reported that
-source databases are not typically serving as large data stores, 74
percent of those respondents using open-source databases were using
MySQL.
Jasmine Noel, an analyst with Ptak, Noel & Associates LLC,
speculated Oracle’s purchase of BEA on the same day as Sun’s
announcement may not be mere happenstance.
“Yeah, on the same day that Oracle finally buys BEA – coincidence? I
don’t think so,” she said. “Sun’s purchase gives enterprise customers
some level of comfort that MySQL will continue to compete against the
big consolidators – Oracle, Microsoft [and] IBM. Since Sun does have a
good open-source history they can give that financial protection
without stifling the culture or product.”
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