MySQL, Bell Micro Join Forces
Last April, MySQL named Ingram Micro as its first major distributor. Its database and the MySQL Networks support and maintenance offering are also offered by Hewlett-Packard, Novell, Dell and SCO.
For Bell Micro, which last year launched a Hewlett-Packard Linux initiative, this deal represents a natural extension. "We were storage centric, not really in the database or applications market but with HP last year we started down the path to Linux solutions on blades," said Gary Gammon, vice president of marketing for San Jose-based Bell Micro.
Zack Urlocker, vice president of marketing for Cupertino, Calif.-based MySQL said the deal is a coup for MySQL which competes with various PostgreSQL variations as well as against low-end Oracle and Microsoft databases.
"Bell Micro is a huge distributor both in the US for HP and in Europe for Dell as well as some others. This gives us expanded reach for the MySQL Network. Bell Micro has a huge VAR network so this has a multiplier affect for us," he said.
MySQL Network support options, costing from $600 to $5,000 annually, have been offered direct since February.
The database itselfwhich runs on Windows, Linux and Unix-- is available via both open source and commercial license formats.