Ingres CEO Analyzes Oracle-MySQL Combo
The VAR Guy’s blog team was in the right place at the right time today. Shortly after the European Union approved Oracle’s takeover of Sun Microsystems (and MySQL), our team was recording a FastChat video interview with Ingres President and CEO Roger Burkhardt. Ingres, you may recall, is an open source database provider that competes with Oracle on some fronts. What does Burkhardt think of the Oracle-MySQL combo? Here’s the scoop.
The conversation with Burkhardt had two chapters. First up, Burkhardt described the Ingres business model and channel strategy. He claims Ingres is the second-largest open source company — trailing only Red Hat. Hmmm… The VAR Guy will need to check in with Digium and Alfresco (among others) to see if that’s true. Also, Burkhardt described how Ingres rewards its sales team to work with channel partners.
Changing Subjects
Intriguing stuff. But the really interesting dialog begins in chapter two, where Burkhardt shares his views on Oracle’s buyout of Sun, and the potential implications for MySQL.
Alas, The VAR Guy’s team could have done a better job asking some key questions throughout the interview process. For starters: Is Ingres facing competition from EnterpriseDB, another open source database provider? Also, how well is the Open Source Channel Alliance (OSCA) performing so far? When Red Hat and Synnex launched the OSCA in 2009, Ingres was among the first members to sign on.
Still, Burkhardt covers plenty of ground in the two FastChat interviews below. Here they are…
FastChat Video 1: The Ingres Business Strategy
The video covers:
0:00 Introduction
0:15 Where Ingres competes in the database market
1:15 The Ingres channel partner strategy
2:10 How fast is Ingres growing?
2:55 More info
3:09 Conclusion
FastChat Video 2: Burkhardt’s views on Oracle-Sun-MySQL
0:00 Introduction
0:10 Burkhardt’s views on the Oracle-Sun business combination
0:56 What will happen with MySQL – Burkhardt’s opinion
1:22 Is MySQL already reacting to Oracle ownership?
2:00 More Info
2:15 Conclusion
Equal Time
Of course, The VAR Guy plans to offer a range of sources equal time on the Oracle-Sun story. Our resident blogger hopes to speak with EnterpriseDB in the next few days.
And of course, The VAR Guy continues to reach out regularly to Oracle Channel Chief Judson Althoff to hear how the OPN Specialized partner program will engage Sun and MySQL partners. Plus, Oracle CEO Larry Ellison is expected to discuss Oracle’s strategy for Sun on January 27.
The VAR Guy will be listening.
Unlike MySQL and OpenOffice.org, Java is not quite fully open source. Sun retained veto power over the operations of the Java Community Process, and the validation suite that an implementation needs to pass to use the “Java” name is NOT open-source.
The harm that Oracle could do to MySQL and OOo is limited. But the damage it can do to Java if it wants, is huge. As with most proprietary companies, this can arise not out of deliberate malevolence, but out of simple neglect. It gets
too expensive to continue pouring resources into a roprietary product, so the company loses interest, and the users get left in the lurch.
Lawrence: Your thoughts caught The VAR Guy’s ear. A lot of folks are calling on Oracle to keep the Java playing field level. Our resident blogger will offer more thoughts later today.
-TVG