On February 27, 2008 Sun Microsystems acquired MySQL. MySQL is the “world’s most popular database”–whatever that means in marketing speak. In terms of technology it means that Sun now owns the database that many Web companies use for web applications and services. There are few acquisitions that make as much sense. Marten Mickos was the CEO of MySQL. Now he is the senior vice president of the database group within Sun. I caught up with Marten to bring us up to date on the acquisition and future direction of MySQL.
Question: How did the Sun deal go down?
Answer: On the one hand there was always a positive vibe and an affinity. On the other, the deal happened surprisingly and extremely quickly over just a number of weeks.
Six years ago I approached Jonathan Schwartz–whom I didn’t know at the time–with an email titled “All things under the Sun.” My point was that we should do more together. He responded immediately saying “You don’t have to convince us–we love you guys–and want you to succeed wildly.”
But over the years, we didn’t really work that closely with Sun. We were busy on our end, and they on theirs. So when we had dinner again in late November 2007, I wasn’t expecting anything special. But during that evening we saw even more similarities than before, and there was high energy in the discussion.
In the next few days we engaged in a positive and strategic discussion, and soon enough we saw that this could be a great combination. We quickly agreed that we should act fast and not play games with each other. In Swedish hockey language, we agreed to “raka puckar,” i.e. straight pucks–or more precisely, straight shots. This is what made it possible to get the acquisition done in record time. We just focused on the essential.
Jonathan has described this process eloquently in his blog here, and I explained my thinking in this guest column on AlwaysOn.
Question: Were there other suitors?
Answer: We have been fortunate at MySQL to have interest from large corporations to acquire us. But our main focus always was on going public and remaining independent.
Question: What does this deal mean for the small business who is considering using MySQL?
Answer: There are two main types of small businesses. Web2.0 startups are small in the beginning but may grow exponentially over an extended period of time. Facebook and Second Life are such examples. They always need the highest performance and scalability. With the help of Sun’s experts in this field, we believe we can deliver more of that.
The other small business group consists of companies who are not in the technology field themselves. They look for convenience, reliability, and low cost. For them, Sun’s acquisition of MySQL will mean a higher level of comfort because of the reputation, size, and reach of Sun and because they can do one-stop shopping. Additionally, partnerships with other main vendors provide even more choice, and complement the offerings from Sun.
Naturally, all MySQL users will be able to continue to download the product free of charge under the GPL licence. We have the same firm commitment to free and open source software as before.
Question: On a technical level, can there be tighter integration with the hardware now that you know which hardware MySQL will be running on?
Answer: Yes, there can be, and there probably will be over time. Many customers look for convenience and ease of deployment. The main focus of the Database Group within Sun as MySQL is now known is to accelerate the existing roadmap of the product: more scalability, performance, reliability, and ease of use. At the end of the day, those are the main features a customer will want to see improvement in. It is like with sports cars: more horsepower is always appreciated by the customers.
Question: Will we see inexpensive bundles of Sun hardware and MySQL software?
Answer: We are market driven and we will present to customers whatever product and service combinations that have the biggest demand. This could include hardware-software bundles but it could also mean providing databases as a service. We now are part of a company that has all the required pieces, so we can assemble them from time to time as the markets require.
As for “inexpensive,” I’d say that Sun across the board has products that provide unparalleled price/performance. Some cost a lot because they are from the highest end. Others cost less per unit and lend themselves to smaller businesses and to massive scale-out scenarios. The main thing in the 21st century is to give customers choice – because they will make choices anyhow.
Question: Have you had any kind of concerns that MySQL will be run like a “big company”?
Answer: I had those concerns even when we were a small startup! Complacency and arrogance can creep in without your noticing in any sort of organisation. To avoid it, we have taken some specific steps. We have released our software under the GPL thus exposing ourselves to the risk of forking. This keeps us running fast. We have also chosen to serve the fastest paced and fastest growing business in the world such as YouTube, Flickr, Zillow, and Nokia.
This also forces us to run fast. And we have a company culture of no-nonsense and of following The No Asshole Rule by Bob Sutton–pardon my French, but the book by that name is so good. For these reasons, there is no time for complacency. These aspects apply to Sun as well. And if for whatever unlikely reason we would ever encounter some big company behavior within Sun, we will do our utmost to help change it.
Question: What does this acquisition mean for people using MySQL on other platforms?
Answer: We stopped using the words “other” or “rest of world” or “foreign.” We operate all over the world, we serve customers in all languages we can, we run on whatever hardware platforms customers use, and we tune MySQL for a whole bunch of operating systems.
When we decide what to focus on, we look at the volumes. Our number one operating system is Linux. Windows is number two. Solaris is number three, and Mac OS X a very close four. I don’t see this changing by anything other than customer behavior. We will serve our customers on whatever platforms they run on, just as before.
Question: How do you think the folks at Oracle are going to react?
Answer: Sun is one of Oracle’s closest and most long-term partners, and MySQL has been a partner of Oracle for the last three years. You may know that Oracle distributes MySQL within their Linux offering, and MySQL distributes Oracle’s InnoDB component. So I believe that people at Oracle are happy that MySQL is in such a friendly camp.
Overall, it appears to me that people judge companies for what they were several years ago–not seeing where they are heading. Sun has changed its strategy dramatically in the last few years, and so has Oracle. Oracle is today one of the leading application vendors. It has a successful database business, but from a customer perspective they look more like a General Electric of software than a database company.
Charles Phillips, president of Oracle once publicly said that Oracle and MySQL are both in the transportation business. Oracle is a 747, and MySQL is a Toyota. Given the enormous success of Toyota Motor Corporation, I love that analogy! The world definitely needs big airplanes, but more broadly it needs modern transportation vehicles.
Question: Is there a theoretical limit of MySQL in case a small business uses it and sales/transactions/whatever explode?
Answer: Every software product has its limits, but I think we have shown that MySQL can scale enormously. Google runs its entire ad system on MySQL. Nokia runs mobile phone networks on MySQL. Booking.com runs all their business transactions on MySQL. If a small business reaches those limits, it is not a small business any longer–it is an enormous global player.
Question: If the best hockey players from Sun in the US played against the best MySQL players from Finland, who would win?
Answer: Don’t ask this question! I am not sure I can face my fellow Finns once I publicly admit that Sun would most likely win this game. Unless you give me time to recruit Selanne, Kurri, Toskala, and others. Teemu Selanne, by the way, put some money into the Finnish venture capital firm that made the first investment in MySQL, so he has made a nice return. Perhaps I could use that to convince him to play for MySQL.
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Hey Alper ,
Super !! Good Questions , Great Answers.
I am sure SUN with MySQL is a great combination.
It is a great boost for open source movement.
But in the end , ” VC’ s are bound to ask the nerve-breaking question, show me the money , honey”.
The biggest challenge is how SUN maintains a balance its “Open Source Involvement” and “Commercial sustainable Operation”.