This white paper examines a model whereby CIOs can reduce database costs by adopting a heterogeneous database architecture and implementing MySQL for much of business critical and operational applications. MySQL customer examples, usage scenarios along with target applications, as well as recommended adoption strategies are presented.

To demonstrate the cost savings MySQL can offer, the business white paper utilizes a graph to show the licensing cost differentials between MySQL Enterprise Gold, which comes with 24x7 support, and Microsoft, Sybase, IBM, and Oracle, pointing out a potential cost savings of up to 95% over three years.

Besides licensing, CIOs also need to calculate training, staffing, hardware, and downtime costs for total database TCO. The paper asserts that MySQL provides the reliability, calls for less hardware expenditures (up to 80%), and offers low complexity along with a wealth of support resources for system administrators.

The presentation of the model designed to drop database costs and avoid vendor lock-in takes a closer look at the impact of proprietary database site license costs on organizations. "The idea of standardizing on a reliable database while reducing the average price per deployment is an attractive proposition," it is noted. "As a result, an annual or multi-year site license is often purchased and a directive is given within the organization to only use that database. However, this is overkill. It is not necessary to use a high-cost, mission critical database for all applications. For your business critical and operational applications, you are paying for features you don’t use."

A heterogeneous model is offered with the following suggestions:

• Continue to develop your strategic, mission-critical applications on Oracle. CIOs have invested a lot of time, money and effort into these applications and the skills to maintain these applications. Plus, they are vital to business operations. However, containing your Oracle usage to this top-level tier will help you control your overall database costs.

• Use MySQL Enterprise for your mid-tier applications as well as your low end applications. MySQL can help reduce your database costs for the majority of your database applications by 90%.

• MySQL is well suited for your low end applications as well and will scale both technically and financially to meet the needs of your mid-tier applications. Organization typically start using the MySQL Community Server for their small low end applications. It is common for your low-end applications that provide an important business function to grow in popularity and importance over time. Therefore, the MySQL Enterprise professional tools and services are able to support these applications as they evolve into business critical applications.

Flexibility in business processes and a high level of agility to meet market demands are key to remain competitive, so organizations must rely on standards based, modular, technology infrastructure architectures that allow for interchangeable components to avoid the risk of rising vendor prices. To push this point home, the paper examines closed and open source models.

A description of MySQL Enterprise is included. A list of other white papers, articles, analyst reports, and case studies concludes the piece.

More Information

CIO Guide: The Strategic Value of MySQL - login or registration required

MySQL Web Site [...read more...]

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