MySQL Adds Second Option As Storage Engine

MySQL will have SolidDB OLTP storage engine as an option for its popular open-source database, filling what could have become a void caused by Oracle's acquisition last fall of Innobase.

MySQL and Innobase's InnoDB had been a popular combination but Oracle's buyout of Innobase cast some doubt on future collaboration. MyISAM, Memory, Merge and Cluster are other storage engines that plug into MySQL.

The move marks Solid Information Systems' first foray into the open source world. The deal was logistically easy to forge at least in at least one respect: Solid shares the same Cupertino, Calif. office building with My SQL. MySQL fields both open-source and commercial versions of its database for Linux, Windows and Unix.

Some said MySQL will get more with Solid than it had with InnoDB.

"Solid offers transactional integrity, online back-up and can be faster for mixed workloads," said Stacey Quandt, research director for the Aberdeen Group, the Boston-based researcher.

"We're a transactional storage engine but we also have role-based security, concurrency control," said Paola Lubet, vice president of marketing for Solid Information Systems.

The two companies will show off a prototype of the MySQL-version of Solid next week at the MySQL User Conference next week. A beta version should be available in early July, with the final version due in the fourth quarter.

"The prototype is still closed-source. We haven't finished with the GPL wording yet, Lubet said. Solid will continue to offer a proprietary, commercial version of its wares as well, she said.

"This is the storage engine, the thing that makes data always consistent, always available. We could have put our own database into open source but thought this was a better route," Lubet said. The MySQL version will be available under the same GPL license as MySQL itself.

Solid's technology is used in PBXes, switches and other wares from such companies as EMC, Nortel and Cisco.