LinuxPR: Red Hat angel investor funds open-source software startup to take on database giants

"Landmark Communications, a large privately held media company whose chairman bankrolled Linux leader Red Hat Inc., announced it has funded a wholly owned subsidiary with the intention of doing for databases what Red Hat did for Linux and operating systems - give business a formidable open source alternative to existing proprietary applications."

"Newly formed Great Bridge LLC is backed by more than $25 million from Landmark Communications, a media conglomerate involved in broadcast, print and interactive media including The Weather Channel, the Virginian-Pilot newspaper, and weather.com. Batten funded Red Hat's successful launch and IPO last year, and served on its board of directors."

"As Red Hat has done for the open-source Linux operating system, Great Bridge will market commercial products, services and support for PostgreSQL (popularly called "Postgres"), a rapidly evolving, open-source database that rivals leading proprietary databases such as Oracle and Microsoft SQL Server in performance and features. After recently winning the prestigious LinuxWorld award for Best Database Management System, the judges said PostgreSQL "has become one of the most mature and powerful open-source tools available."

Press Release