"Is using an open source database in important applications too
risky? Many corporations think so. They are afraid to take the
risk, because they have heard open source databases like MySQL and
PostgreSQL are weak in the areas of support, features and
reliability. Those fears are unfounded, says Mark S. Cotton, vice
president of consulting for Great Bridge, LLC, a Norfolk,
Virginia-based company that specializes in providing services for
its own distribution of PostgreSQL. In fact, Great Bridge is
preparing for a full-fledged assault on proprietary vendors'
dominance of the database market, he said. In this question and
answer interview, Cotton describes Great Bridge's support offerings
and points out that PostgreSQL is becoming a more viable
alternative to traditional options."
"What do you think are the main barriers to corporate adoption
of open source databases?"
"Cotton:
The biggest barriers that I see right now are probably education
and getting exposure on a very high level corporate basis. Until
now, open source databases have been introduced in departments.
Businesses that need to run critical applications have been leery
of going to open source because of questions such as whether they
have support or not, and who they go to in case they have a
problem. There's a wealth of developers in the community that can
solve individual issues, but companies want to go one-stop
shopping. They want to go someplace that will give them the
infrastructure support so that if they have a problem, they can get
it solved quickly."
