Cloud Database Vendors: What, us worry about Microsoft?
SQL Server Data Services not inspiring panic in the competition
Web database vendors claim they aren't worried by Microsoft Corp.'s just announced SQL Server Data Services offering, saying their services are sufficiently established, different, and/or better than Redmond's to enable them to thrive when SSDS is released -- according to the current schedule, in the first half of next year.
There are more than a dozen services jockeying in this new field, which some are calling Database 2.0, and others are calling Database-as-a-Service.
They target Web-focused startups or small-to-medium-sized businesses by promising database features at a lower price than a standard relational database such as Oracle or Microsoft's SQL Server, and/or easier management than a free, open-source database such as MySQL.
SQL Server Data Services, or SSDS, promises the same features and qualities, along with tight integration with Microsoft products and technologies and, for good and bad, Microsoft's guarantees on security and uptime.
Some services are backed by vendors nearly as formidable as Microsoft. SimpleDB and S3 from Amazon.com Inc. is the most obvious, though there is also GoogleBase from Google Inc.
Little guys, getting by
But how will smaller, lesser-known vendors compete against the expected Microsoft onslaught? Some, such as Intuit Inc., say they already enjoy a large customer base. The software vendor, better-known for its Quicken and QuickBooks personal and business finance software, has run the QuickBase SaaS service since 2000. It claims more than 225,000 paying customers, including XM Radio, Google, JetBlue Airways, Bank of America, Southwest Airlines and more.
Their target users are not exactly the same, either. SSDS users are expected to be mostly Web developers. QuickBase users, meanwhile, tend to be non-technical business users, who either rent apps from third-party vendors to manipulate the stored data or build them themselves without any programming skills, according to Bill Lucchini, vice-president and general manager of Intuit QuickBase.
QuickBase helps users "create data entry forms, reports, alerts, manage user access, and more." he said. Microsoft's "offering might be interesting to some IT departments but it will be far out of reach of business users or consultants who are driving the future of SaaS apps."
Chris Basham, president of Trackvia Inc., agrees.
"The single biggest need in databases today is giving non-developers an easy way to interact with a database," said Basham, "and this is what Trackvia is better at than any other product out there."
Trackvia has grown, Basham said, because of its easy-to-use interface and speedy performance, especially relative to competitors.
Microsoft claims SSDS is similarly simple to use. But because it uses SQL Server 2008 as its engine, Microsoft will be able to keep exposing more and more features until it nearly matches SQL Server 2008. But Basham says his firm can keep pace, noting that Trackvia is close to updating its user interface and adding relational fields into Trackvia so that it becomes "a true relational database."
Competition compromised?
While Microsoft claims that it is striding confidently toward a utility-computing future, competitors such as Pankaj Malviya, CEO of Sunnyvale, Calif.'s Long Jump Inc., say Redmond's ability to compete is fundamentally compromised.
"Microsoft has traditionally made their money by selling software licenses, maintenance, and ready-made applications -- all of which goes against the nature of cloud computing. They are reacting to the market by attempting to also provide hosted tools, but they have no real history in providing services of this type," Malviya wrote in an e-mail. "The question for Microsoft is: Will its hosted solutions cannibalize their on-premise solutions business, and which approach will take precedence?"
Others say the open-source bias of the cream of the SME market -- Web 2.0 startups -- will shut Microsoft out.
"Microsoft doesn't support Linux, has no open-source exposure on interfaces and lacks adoption by open-source fans," wrote Bob Zurek, CTO of EnterpriseDB Inc. The vendor, which sells an Oracle-compatible database based on open-source PostgreSQL technology, is beta-testing an on-demand version of the database hosted on Amazon.com's EC2 app hosting platform.
And noting that EnterpriseDB's service will feature full relational database features upon launch, Zurek claims his solution will beat SSDS in a head-to-head technical showdown.
But what about MySQL, the apparent current favorite among Web 2.0 developers? The open-source database, recently acquired by Sun Microsystems Inc., doesn't have a cloud database version, though it allows partners to sell a conventional Web-hosted one to customers.
"We aren't ready to make any new announcements at this time, but it's an area that's being evaluated as we integrate with Sun Microsystems," MySQL vice-president of marketing, Zack Urlocker wrote in an e-mail. But he added, tantalizingly, "Sun certainly has the expertise in massive scale and cloud computing that could make for an interesting story."
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