EnterpriseDB, an open source database vendor, announced that IBM has licensed its technology to make it easier to deploy applications on DB2 9.7, the upcoming release of IBM's enterprise relational database. The solution is intended to make it easier to migrate applications from Oracle environments into open source or DB2 environments.
The technology is among a set of capabilities in EnterpriseDB's Postgres Plus Advanced Server. These capabilities enable customers to run applications written for Oracle Database.
"EnterpriseDB was founded around the idea of being able to write some compatibility technology that would unlock the lock-in that's created, particularly around Oracle, between the applications and the database," Ed Boyajian, chief executive officer for EnterpriseDB, tells 5 Minute Briefing. "By doing that, and being able to offer customer choice, it would be a very attractive option for many companies that have found themselves stuck in a mode where they can't get away from the high price points and the other lock-in that Oracle creates."
Postgres Plus Advanced Server's Oracle Database compatibility is intended to provide companies with greater application portability, supporting Oracle Database data types, SQL syntax and semantics, functions, and built-in packages; the Oracle PL/SQL stored procedure language (including packages); and the Oracle Database call interface for application developers.
Organizations can use also Postgres Plus Advanced Server to deploy new Oracle Database-compatible applications, EnterpriseDB said. They can deploy interoperable instances of Postgres Plus Advanced Server and Oracle Database, as well as migrate existing Oracle Database applications to Postgres Plus Advanced Server.
"We think Postgres a great alternative for companies that are really feeling the cost crunch right now," Boyajian says. "For transaction-heavy workloads, it's the engineers' choice for open source databases."
Boyajian also says that the EnterpriseDB solution cuts application migration costs by 75 to 90 percent. "It comes down to the costs to migrate," he explains. "That's what's at the heart of what makes that piece of technology valuable to companies. It gives them the flexibility to have more control." Boyajian sees the opportunities to migrate to either Postgres or DB2 as "complementary."
IBM is also an investor in EnterpriseDB. For more information, click here.