Business applications supplier SAP is partnering with
open source database maker MySQL, which could, ultimately, allow
enterprise resource application customers to deploy Linux and
similar technology as the choice for their databases.
"MySQL will have stewardship of the product," said Faheem Ahmed,
director of market strategy and collaborative solutions at SAP.
That means MySQL development and management tools will be able to
work with SAP, ultimately helping to cut down on the cost of
administration.
SAP will continue to support existing and new SAP DB
installations, and MySQL will assist in future tasks such as
developing application programming interfaces and testing SAP DB to
ensure that it remains true to industry standards.
According to Martin Mickos, chief executive officer of MySQL,
SAP DB will be renamed and marketed by his company by the third
quarter of the year, and both products will interoperate.
He said the changes will also allow MySQL to exploit some of SAP
DB's technologies and slash the time to market for features in the
MySQL product.
In terms of open-source support, SAP is putting itself ahead of
rivals such as PeopleSoft, which recently announced Linux support
for its product line, said Stacey Quandt, an analyst at Forrester
Research.
The deal allow MySQL to support features already familiar to SAP
users and give customers more choices when selecting a database to
support their ERP applications, said Quandt.
For instance, rather than going with Oracle's more expensive
database, they can use Linux. This also builds on SAP's commitment
to open-source, which has been in place since 1999.
Marc L Songini writes for IDG News Service
