IBM invests in open source database company

IBM is buying into open source databases, with the announcement of an investment in database developer EnterpriseDB.

The investment from IBM was described as a minority stake in the $10m third round of venture capital raised for the PostgreSQL database company, alongside other investors Charles River Ventures, Fidelity Ventures and Valhalla Partners.

The two companies already have an existing relationship, with IBM selling EnterpriseDB's Advanced Server 8.2 for Linux on IBM System z mainframes, and Advanced Server for AIX on IBM System p servers.

The move follows Sun Microsystems acquisition of MySQL in January, and is seen as a way for IBM to complete its open source stack without having to be beholden to Sun.

Andy Astor, CEO of EnterpriseDB was reported by InformationWeek as saying: "IBM has got most of the open source stack in line. It's got an open source operating system, an open source Web server, and an open source application server."

Enterprise DB's Postgre Plus database could be seen as completing that stack, as, according to Astor: "IBM views us as enterprise ready."

The Postgre Plus database is also compatible with Oracle's SQL DB, PL/SQL, meaning applications written for Oracle can be ported easily to EnterpriseDB.

Anna Kuznetsova, director, IBM Linux Strategy commented: "IBM has a long history of supporting open source initiatives, including Linux, Apache, and Eclipse, and this investment is another example of IBM's long-standing commitment to open standards."

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