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Red Hat investing in EnterpriseDB From the 'Friends in High Places' files: Is Red Hat making a play for the open source database market? Linux leader Red Hat (NYSE:RHT) is investing in open source database vendor EnterpriseDB, the official announcement is set for release on Tuesday October 27th. The official press release does not disclose the exact amount that Red Hat is investing, but it is part of a $19M series C round of funding. EnterpriseDB is one of the leading commercial backers behind the PostgreSQL(also known as Postgres) database. While the Red Hat investment in EnterpriseDB maybe new, EnterpriseDB and Red Hat are hardly strangers. EnterpriseDB's president Ed Boyajian is a former Red Hat exec. Red Hat is also no stranger to PostgreSQL either. The Red Hat Network Satellite, which is Red Hat's key Linux management platform is moving to PostgreSQL as its back-end database away from Oracle. With Oracle's pending acquisition of Sun and with (likely) MySQL there is even further incentive for Red Hat to take a more active role in the open source database market. "EnterpriseDB has clearly established itself as a leading enterprise Postgres company, which is why Red Hat has chosen to partner with and invest in the company," Jim Whitehurst, CEO of Red Hat said in a statement. "EnterpriseDB is also working to create customer value through a subscription support model. Clearly, this is a model we see as beneficial." I don't think this move by Red Hat necessarily reflects a shift away from MySQL, but I do think this is a very high vote of confidence in PostgreSQL. I wouldn't be surprised to see a deeper relationship evolve over time with EnterpriseDB as Red Hat aggressively goes after Oracle's business. EnterpriseDB on its own has an interesting product and service offering, but they're smaller than Red Hat. With Red Hat there is an expanded sales and channel potential as well as the ability to offer a more complete stack including database, middleware and operating system. That said, this is just an investment, not an acquisition. Red Hat invests in lots of companies and through its myriad open source efforts contributes to many more. With this investment, Red Hat (and its shareholders) are looking for a return on their investment, it will be interesting to see what form that takes. 0 TrackBacksListed below are links to blogs that reference this entry: Red Hat investing in EnterpriseDB . TrackBack URL for this entry: https://swarm.jupitermedia.com/mt-tb.cgi/9147 1 CommentsLeave a comment |
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This is why I like Red Hat and have for many years. I have no choice but to respect that company. It's like they've adopted an improved version of Microsoft's corporate motto!
"A computer on every desktop, running *Open Source* Software."
They've always put their money where their mouths are. They bought Netscape Directory Server and made it Free Software. They're doing the same thing with the rest of it, too (if they haven't finished already). Since they're honoring the spirit of Free Software as well as the letters of the licenses, we can have CentOS (can't do that with SLED/SLES). They sponsor Fedora. They put resources into K12LTSP (now K12Linux). They actively fight the evil of software patents, not sign on to make it worse like Novell did.
Oh, and they're making millions every year from selling Free Software.
And now they're using their war chest to help keep PostgreSQL funded so that everyone can use it? Terrific! I love PostgreSQL; I'm definitely a fanboi. It's a mighty fine RDBMS, solid as the Rock of Gibraltar. I also like MySQL a whole lot, don't get me wrong. But given Oracle's ownership of the MySQL copyrights and trademark, I'd call this a smart move by Red Hat.
--TP