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Since the companys founding in 2004, EnterpriseDB has sought to make its PostgreSQL-based relational database management system the affordable, enterprise-class database of choice. With a new version of its Advanced Server product on the way to market in late May, the company is making a play for success with a combination of improved Oracle compatibility and migration capabilities.
EnterpriseDB Advanced Server 8.2 can now run applications written for Oracle databases that rely on OCI (Oracle Call Interface), company officials said. OCI is an API that allows an application developer to use C function calls to access the Oracle data server and control business logic execution.
“Any application thats written for Oracle can now run unchanged for EnterpriseDB,” said Derek Rodner, director of product strategy for EnterpriseDB, based in Iselin, N.J.
This broadens the scope of applications that can be used with the new release with little or no change to the applications code, he said.
Many packaged enterprise software applications from third-party vendors make extensive use of OCI, and company officials contend that EnterpriseDBs enhanced Oracle compatibility will enable those applications to be quickly and easily deployed on the EnterpriseDB platform.
A database administrator familiar with Oracle can now boot up EnterpriseDB and know immediately how to use it, Rodner said.
This is all part of the 3-year-old companys plans to challenge the hold older database companies have on the market. EnterpriseDB officials claim tests conducted by the company have put the performance of EnterpriseDB Advanced Server 8.2 within 90 percent of Oracles product and have shown it to be three times as fast as MySQL in OLTP (online transaction processing) environments.
“We do this at about 20 percent of the cost of Oracle,” Rodner added. “We are really focused at disrupting the general-purpose OLTP database.”
The new version of EnterpriseDB Advanced Server also offers automated migration from the Microsoft SQL Server, MySQL and Sybase databases, Rodner said. The release is built on the newest version of PostgreSQL, and users can expect a 20 percent performance increase, advanced support for warm standby databases and online index builds, among other features, he said.
The product is scheduled to be generally available in late May at a cost of $1,500 per CPU per year for basic service and support, and $5,000 per year per CPU for premium service and support.