Pervasive Takes On MySQL With New Support Bundles

Pervasive will bundle up its own install procedures and JDBC/ODBC drivers with the database itself, said Lance Obermeyer, director of products at Pervasive, Austin, Texas. Starting next month, the company will offer standard support for PostegreSQL for $1,999 per year, and premium support with round-the-clock coverage for $4,999 per year, he said.

The company will continue to push its proprietary Pervasive.SQL for the embedded market, where it is used in third-party products such as Best Software's Accpac.

With PostgreSQL, Pervasive hopes to attack the mainstream corporate market, where it will take on MySQL, the popular database that is offered in both commercial and open-source versions.

Among the open-source crowd, PostgreSQL is seen as a more feature-rich alternative to MySQL.

Meta Group analyst Charlie Garry said PostgreSQL hasn't set the world on fire but holds the edge in functionality over MySQL. "Pervasive clearly hopes to leverage its sales channel and database management in small and midsize businesses, which are likely to be the first adopters of open-source databases," he said. Solution providers say the market is starting to open up for open-source databases.

Some Oracle shops are buying commercial products such as MySQL for the midtier, said said Rob Wolfe, CEO of AvcomEast, a solution provider in Silver Spring, Md. "I think they worry that the companies they deal with don't control their own destiny. Still, for $595 they're getting a supported product. So companies are dipping their toes in the water with commercial products," he said.

Noel Yuhanna, an analyst at Forrester Research, said PostgreSQL will get a boost from this move. It compares well with commercial databases, but it's lacked backing from a key vendor, he said.