Oracle Updates Berkeley DB Embeddable Database

Key new features in the database include multiversion concurrency control, which allows users to keep their own data snapshots; the ability to upgrade or patch the database without turning it off; and a replication framework, said Rex Wang, vice president of embedded systems at Redwood Shores, Calif.-based Oracle.

The news comes just days after MySQL, a popular open-source database, apparently said it would stop supporting Berkeley DB as one of its key data-store technologies, starting with the current MySQL 5.1.12 beta version and future releases. MySQL lets users plug in database engines that best fit their application needs. Whether MySQL will continue to back Berkeley DB after Oracle bought Sleepycat has been something of an open question for months.

Wang told CRN last week that Berkeley DB is aimed at partners, either VARs or ISVs that need to embed a data store in their applications. However, Oracle couldn't provide partner names.

When Oracle purchased Sleepycat, some Sleepcat partners feared the software giant would kill the technology and keep the customers.

Manoj Khanna, chief strategist for Dextrus Prosoft, a Sunnyvale, Calif.-based open-source specialist and SleepyCat fan, said he was happy to hear about the planned feature boosts. But, he added, his company has heard nothing from Oracle about these plans.

"We had a very close relationship with Sleepycat and [its CEO] Mike Olson but have had no interaction with them since the Oracle deal," Khanna said. Olson was chief executive of Emeryville, Calif.-based Sleepycat and remains with Oracle as a vice president.

"The beauty of the Berkeley DB is that even though it is extremely modular and partners have to put it together from scratch, once you know it, it is solid and you can't stop using it," Khanna said.

Wang said Berkeley DB usually competes with home-built databases, although VARs say there are several embeddable database alternatives in the open-source and proprietary worlds. They include Sybase iAnywhere, IBM's Cloudscape Java database and the open-source Dolphin.

Berkeley DB, as before, is available in a commercial and an open-source license. It runs on Windows, Linux Macintosh and Unix operating systems.