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Today sees the release of our latest CAOS report, Turning the Tables? ? The impact of open source on the enterprise database market, which examines - as the subtitle suggests, how much of an impact the open source database projects and vendors have made on the traditional relational database market.

One of the key findings is that open source software has had a superficial impact on the enterprise database market in that adoption has been widespread but shallow. While open source databases have been widely deployed for Web-tier applications, there has been minimal adoption in the enterprise application tier, and adoption for enterprise applications is at this time limited to certain specific application workloads.

Some people may be inclined to disagree with that assessment, but you only have to look at the comparative revenues of the open source and proprietary vendors to see that there is a vast chasm to be crossed. While there are - of course - examples of enterprise adoption of open source databases, there are many more conservative database users out there, and it will take time for open source to make an impression on them.
Another finding is that for there to be increased adoption of open source databases at the enterprise application tier, a number of factors need to be addressed, including increased enterprise functionality, improved service and support offerings, proof that performance fears are misplaced, increased customer resistance to traditional database software licensing, and a move to Web-based architecture for internal applications.

The picture is not all bad, however. The 451 Group expects the adoption of open source database management systems to continue apace. The adoption of open source software for non-mission-critical applications and new projects will continue, and we expect to see open source databases gradually surround proprietary database deployments. At this stage, mainstream customers will begin to reevaluate their core database management offerings and examine whether open source is a viable option for mission-critical applications.

An executive summary of the report is available, and the full report may be purchased here. A press release is out, and we will also be hosting a Webinar next month to discuss the report and take some questions on it (Stay tuned to CAOS for further instructions on that). Please feel free to let us know what you think of our findings or your take on the impact of open source in the database market.

The report also formed the backdrop to yesterday’s panel discussion at the OSBC conference, and I just wanted to take this opportunity to thank the participants - both panel and audience members - who made sure it was an interested and informative discussion.