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Survey suggests that Open Source databases are gaining on Oracle

In a great report published as part of "Database Trends and Applications" magazine, IOUG commissioned a survey titled “Open Source in the Stack: IOUG 2006 Survey on Open Source Trends”, where we see a statistically significant survey (n=269) that addresses the adoption of open source databases.

The Executive Summary of the report is available here, but only for IOUG members.
 

Open Source database findings:

Open source databases are gaining ground in the small-medium sized market. While DB2 and Oracle still rule for ERP and large mission-critical systems, open source contenders such as MySQL and PostgreSQL are making inroads, as are partially open source database like (EnterpriseDB).

Many companies are now trusting open source for database management, and this survey suggests that the major proprietary database vendors (DB2, Oracle SQL Server) may see open source databases as a threat.

 

Is open source database a threat to Oracle?

The survey notes that small and medium businesses are having the largest uptake of open source database:

“The IOUG survey confirms that the perceived threat is real. Small companies are the most inclined to have adopted open source databases at this time.

Close to half of the small businesses in the survey (45 percent of those with fewer than 500 employees) have adopted one of the leading open source brands. This compares with 29 percent of medium size firms (500 to 5,000 employees) and 38 percent of large organizations (5,000 or more)."

The study also confirms that MySQL and PostgreSQL are leading the pack in open source databases:

“One third of the group (33 percent) has instances of MySQL at their sites, followed by PostgreSQL at second place with nine percent.”

The study also suggests that open source databases are not as well-trusted as vendor databases for mission-critical systems, especially ERP applications:

“While open source databases are prevalent, they are still at the edge of the enterprise. The IOUG survey finds that only 10 percent of open source databases are deployed to support enterprise applications.”