DB Giant Can No Longer Ignore Growing Sector
Oracle has decided if you can’t beat them, join them when it comes to the NoSQL movement. After just 4 months ago releasing a whitepaper in which they said this about NoSQL:
“The NoSQL databases are beginning to feel like an ice cream store that entices you with a new flavor of the month,” the white paper read. “[But] you shouldn’t get too attached to any of the flavors because it may not be around for too long.”
Larry and Co. unveiled a NoSQL database of their own this week at Oracle Open World. Well they didn’t do the usual Oracle dog and pony show, it was more of a softer launch actually. But if you look hard enough you will find it on the web site here. You can also get the .pdf datasheet here and a pretty deep whitepaper on their NoSQL product here.
The database is based on the BerkeleyDB which is open sourced. So it would seem that this NoSQL database is open as well. They do call it a community edition and seem to offer a commercial version with support. Does that mean it is just free or open source? I don’t know and haven’t found anything definitive. However, I wouldn’t look for too much in the way of open source and free from them.
Actually first disparaging a market before they enter it is classic Oracle. They have done that with several markets that they later entered. If their track record holds true they will try this internal stab to capture a players share of the market, but when that fails they will go out and buy a player. That is the Oracle way, according to Max Schireson, President of NoSQL vendor 10gen and a former Oracle person himself.
Predictably, Schireson says he welcomes Oracle into the NoSQL market. The entry by the database giant validates the space and will bring more attention. The “rising tide lifts all boats” theory. Ultimately he says that while Oracle will get some customers because of their market presence, the competition will force 10gen and other NoSQL vendors to up their games and make even better products. So ultimately the winner will be the customers.
I heard a similar version of this from Hortonworks CEO Eric Baldeschwieler. Hortonworks is the spin off from Yahoo! of the team that pioneered Hadoop there. Eric and his team still are major contributors to the Apache Hadoop distribution. Oracle entered into this space too with the announcement of their Oracle Big Data Appliance. The appliance will not only contain the NoSQL database, but Hadoop as well. As long as it is the Apache distro, all is good with Baldeschwieler who welcomes the competition.
While I admire the tough talk from both executives, Oracle can be a bear to compete with. While it does validate the space, I think this space was so hot, it didn’t need any more validation. My words of caution to NoSQL and Hadoop start ups is be careful what you wish for.
On the other hand one of these companies may wind up being the recepients of Larry Ellison’s largesse a year or so from now when Oracle buys what it couldn’t develop internally.
