EnterpriseDB launched Monday with a public beta release of its first product, EnterpriseDB 2005, offering out-of-the-box compatibility with applications written for Oracle databases.
EnterpriseDB 2005 (EDB2005) is built on the open-source PostgreSQL
database but adds proprietary features targeted to enterprise
customers. The EDB product includes EDB Database Server, the RDBMS engine,
EDB Studio, a graphical console for developers and DBAs, and EDB Connectors,
which provide access to EDB from JDBC, ODBC, .NET, ESQL/C++, PHP, Perl and
Python.
“MySQL has been the only game in town, but that doesn’t mean it’s the
best game for enterprise use,” EDB CEO Andy Astor said. “Our product is
better because it’s more enterprise class. It handles data integrity,
performance and transactions better, and it also has compatibility with
standards that are in corporate America today.”
In October, MySQL made version 4.1
of its software publicly available. MySQL is available under two licenses, a free download under the General Public License, or a $595 per server commercial license that includes deployment services.
Astor said that while MySQL supports the ANSI SQL standard, the market-leading database products from Microsoft , Oracle and IBM
aren’t that close to ANSI.
The target market for the product, Astor said, is “every company that has
a computer system.”
EDB2005 is available as a free download during the public beta, with
general availability expected later this summer. During the beta period,
EnterpriseDB will provide free technical support.
Upon final release of the product, EDB will charge customers a
still-to-be-determined annual subscription fee for a commercial software
license which will include all upgrades and full technical support.
PostgresSQL is based on the BSD license; EDB will charge for the
capabilities it’s added to the open source work.
“Over time, the work we’re doing will be offered back into the
community,” Astor said. “This value-add to open source is an emerging
market we think is interesting and makes a lot of sense.”
