Open source database maker to come charging hard in RP

Melvin G. Calimag

A growing loyal local client base has forced MySQL, arguably the world’s most popular open source database software with over 100 million downloads made throughout its history, to invade local shores by appointing a local distributor which will also act as the authorized Philippine MySQL education center.

Larry Stefonic, senior vice president Asia Pacific, MySQL, who recently graced the formal announcement of Touch Solutions Inc. as its Philippine distributor, said in an interview that the increasing popularity of open source software in the country has brought attention to MySQL as an important component of the IT systems of companies.

“The first wave of adoption has been with Linux at the level operating system. The second wave is now with MySQL at the database level,” said Stefonic, who’s currently based in Tokyo, Japan.

Although it was Touch Solutions who actively applied to become its local distributor, the executive said MySQL thought it was high time to formalize its local presence. “It’s something that we’ve not focused on although a number people here have been doing a lot of work based on MySQL. Their skills are pretty good,” he said.

Stefonic said it appears that the Philippines is way ahead in the adoption of MySQL compared with other countries. “My intuition tells me that there’s a high level of awareness here.”

An optimistic Anson Uy, president of Touch Solutions, said they are hoping to convince the top corporations in the country both in private and public sectors to adopt MySQL for this year.

Also in 2008, Uy said they are targeting to capture at least 10 percent of the local profit of dominant database vendor Oracle. He, however, did not specify any amount.

Being a distributor of open source operating system Red Hat, Uy said it was the clients themselves who approached them to inquire about providing tech support for the open source database software that they have downloaded.

Among the big companies currently using MySQL, he said, are telecom operator Bayan Communications and semiconductor firm Analog Devices.

Touch Solutions officials said one of the reasons that is driving the migration to MySQL is the increasing number of applications that are built on top the software. “We acknowledge the fact that large enterprises are still using proprietary databases because of the applications that run on top them. But that is slowly changing. In fact, applications such as SAP R3 now run on MySQL.”

The local firm currently offers classes for database administrators, developers, and MySQL 5 fine tuning. The classes are customized for beginners, intermediate, and experienced users.

Stefonic clarified that its partnership with Touch Solutions, which is expected to resell the official tech support for MySQL, is not exclusive. “We expect to sign up complementary partners and work with Sis (system integrators).”

The executive also noted that more device manufacturers such as Nokia have been adopting MySQL. “We’re not yet inside the actual devices but just in the infrastructure side. But the crossover is easy; that should happen soon.”

MySQL, whose majority ownership was recently acquired by Sun Microsystems, is part of the LAMP (Linux, Apache, MySQL, PHP/Perl/Python) open source enterprise software stack. It was originally founded and developed in Sweden by two Swedes and a Finn: David Axmark, Allan Larsson, and Michael “Monty” Widenius, who had worked together since the 1980s.