Open Channels

EnterpriseDB announced a new program today aimed squarely at Oracle users who are fed up with Oracle’s drumbeat of price increases.  Oracle recently announced a 40% hike in the price of its database tools on the heels of a 20% increase in the price its core database product in 2008.

Through the Oracle Migration Assessment Program, Oracle customers can sign up for EnterpriseDB’s migration feasibility evaluation.  Under the program, EnterpriseDB provides customers with scripts that crawl through the customers’ Oracle databases, discovering a variety of statistics and Oracle-specific usage information.  The scripts produce an output file that is used by EnterpriseDB’s migration analysts to determine the ease with which the database (and referencing applications) can be migrated to EnterpriseDB’s Postgres Plus Advanced Server.  The information is packaged into an Oracle Migration Assessment report, a sample of which can be viewed here (registration/login required).  The report assesses customer databases across five categories of compatibility, and provides an overall compatibility index (a red/yellow/green indicator of migration feasibility).

Frosting or Cake?

This program is a smart move on EnterpriseDB’s part.  The database market has, for years, been dominated by a 3-player oligopoly (Oracle, IBM and Microsoft).  The Big 3 have tremendous pricing power and account control. By following Oracle’s price increases with aggressive promotions, EnterpriseDB is reminding customers that they do have choices.  Whether they exercise those choices by migrating existing Oracle databases or simply by choosing to build new applications on Postgres Plus, customers need to be savvy about their alternatives.  There is no better time to remind Oracle users of those choices then when they’re staring down the muzzle of yet another price increase.