Oracle is offering an early look at the next release of the MySQL open-source database, including its new replication capabilities and enhancements to the InnoDB storage engine.
Oracle, which unveiled the MySQL 5.6 release at the OSCON event Monday, said it is seeking feedback from the MySQL community on the new version of the software.
Oracle acquired MySQL last year as part of its $7.3-billion acquisition of Sun Microsystems. Concerns over whether Oracle would continue to enhance and support MySQL, which some see as an open-source alternative to Oracle's flagship database, led to a delay in Oracle's completion of the Sun acquisition while awaiting permission from European Union regulators.
Sun acquired MySQL in February 2008 for approximately $1 billion.
MySQL 5.6, which can be downloaded from http://labs.mysql.com, offers new and improved replication features that Oracle said improve the software's performance and data integration capabilities. The InnoDB storage engine enhancements will provide more support for full text searches, better performance for write-intensive applications, and improved scalability for high concurrency/user loads, according to Oracle.
The new features are in "active development," Oracle said in a statement, "to enable customers and the MySQL community to provide feedback to Oracle." After development is complete, these features are intended to move into future "development milestone" and "general availability" releases, the company said. Oracle did not disclose a timetable for those releases.
