Trouble Looms for Enterprise Database Crowd
December 13, 2009
One of the developments I await in 2010 is the impact of open source databases in the enterprise. Most organizations don’t question the costs of their commercial databases. The big numbers paid to the IBMs, the Microsofts, and the Oracles of the data management world are grandfathered. A new president or CFO doesn’t try to cut these costs. The received wisdom is that the organization could not turn on lights or flush toilets without these blue chip, wind powered digital clipper ships of software. The reference to clipper ships is appropriate. When steam poked its smoking stacks into the fair wind, the end of the wind powered era had arrived. Codd databases are like these clipper ships. The RDBMS is clever but it cannot compete with newer technologies.
When I read “The New FOSS Frontier: The Database Market”, I thought about how sleek sailing ships ended up as scrap. The era of ugly, smoke belching steamers got the job done somewhat better, almost faster, and certainly cheaper. Those clipper ships could not stuff as much stuff in their holds as the chunky steamers. I have seen some slick RDBMS implementations in my time, but that time is drawing to a close.
As Tech News World’s article makes clear, the threat is not from the Google, although Google will almost certainly chose an inopportune moment to destabilize the database market. The threat is from open source databases. One of the comments in the article I found interesting was:
With Oracle dominating the commercial DBMS market, there is ample motivation for a community to create a challenger. Postgres has the breadth and depth of features to rival Oracle, and with commercial vendors (including EnterpriseDB) offering services, support, and the all-important one throat to choke, the database market is poised to be commoditized.
Then I noted this passage:
With a viable product available, a thriving community in place, and a market ready for commoditization, it is a safe bet that the database will be the next component in the enterprise to embrace open source, and it will likely see the success shared by Linux and JBoss. This is good news for all enterprise architects and project managers who have applications to build and a budget to balance.
In my view, the financial realities will force companies to look at grandpa and make some hard decisions. Anyone who has had to deal with an aging parent knows how difficult the decision to put grandpa in the assisted living facility. I think large organizations will treat their IBM, Microsoft, and Oracle RDBMS systems like grandpa. There will be some hand wringing but then it’s off to Sylvan Acres or whatever the facility is called.
With greater economic pressure causing more organizations to look at open source databases, I think the Google will use some of its nifty data management technology both in open source and more proprietary packaging to push the IBMs, Microsofts, and Oracles into more adrenaline pumping situations.
Should be interesting for this goose to watch from the cold, gray hollow in Harrod’s Creek. My pond will be more hospitable that the CFO’s office when she informs one of the legacy vendors that the good times are over.
Stephen Arnold, December 13, 2009
I wish to disclose to the National Park Service that I was not paid to point out that the article was written for free. My approach is similar to those national parks which allow a person to enter without charge. When one needs to stay overnight, then the cash register rings.
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