Database Vendor MariaDB Challenge Oracle with Clustrix Purchase
In a deal of undisclosed size, MariaDB corporation has acquired distributed database pioneers Clustrix.
The companies, who were formerly in competition, will now cooperate in developing some of the most pioneering aspects of distributed computing, including machine learning, next-generation chips, and memory and storage environments.
Clustrix’s specialism, however, lies in creating scalable databases, and this expertise will now support MariaDB’s goal of building a scale-out capability for databases that can run on client premises or the cloud.
By providing greater scalability and higher availability than other traditional distributed database options, this development would pit the company’s offering against the likes of Oracle RAC.
In a statement, MariaDB CEO Michael Howard expressed his intention to challenge the second-largest software company in the world:
“Today, the choices for a scale-out database option are limited – go with a traditional solution like Oracle with high cost and bloat or choose a NoSQL solution that has limited capabilities for data integrity. With Clustrix, MariaDB can provide a better solution for our customers that have challenging scale-out enterprise environments. Our distributed solution will satisfy the most extreme requirements of our largest customers and gives them the freedom to break from Oracle’s lock-in.”
According to the website, Clustrix can easily scale to meet different deployment sizes. The company’s cloud-based distributed SQL relational database also delivers real-time transactions, and can provide for more than 25 trillion transactions per month through its customers, creating vast datasets which hold billions of rows of information.
These databases can be deployed on both in-house infrastructure and the cloud, and are capable of providing up to 10 times better performance than competitors like Amazon Web Services’ MySQL-based Aurora database service.
With the acquisition, MariaDB will be able to take full advantage of Clustrix’s speed and scalability features, allowing them to provide better support for existing large-scale deployments.
Systems geared towards structured business records continue to be a mainstay of enterprise software, and this move will strengthen MariaDB’s position in the space, allowing them to compete more effectively with rival relational databases from Oracle and others.