Will open-source crack open database market?

Take a look at the market-share numbers for relational databases and you'd easily conclude that the market is locked up. But that doesn't account for the open-source effect.

The big three--Oracle, IBM, and Microsoft--rake in well over two thirds of dollars spent on databases, according to market researcher IDC.

Despite that seemingly iron grip on customers, some entrepreneurs size up the database field in a very different way. In many cases, they are using an open-source business model to pry their way into corporate accounts.

The latest company is EntepriseDB, which on Monday launched a beta program around its product, a version of the PostgreSQL database that's compatible with Oracle and other databases. The company's strategy is straight-forward: deliver an enterprise-class database with high-end features and undercut the incumbents on price.

Company president and CEO Andy Astor isn't put off by the commanding market share of the Big Three.

The open-source business model, where customers pay a subscription fee for ongoing services rather than for a software license, is a classic case of a "disruptive" technology, he says.

As defined by Clayton Christiansen's book, "The Innovator's Dilemma," certain technology markets hit evolutionary points that are ripe for disruption as they mature. The database market is at that point, Astor says.

A few other people appear to agree. MySQL is seeing rapid growth while IBM and Computer Associates started open-source database projects last year, albeit with products that aren't big revenue-producers. Pervasive Software is offering support around PostreSQL and GreenPlum, another start-up, is building a version of PostgreSQL optimized for business intelligence.

Even Sun Microsystems, which has never had a database, plans to get in the game. It is said that Sun has two people dedicated to a project called SunDB, but the company has said little about it.

Sun Chief Executive Scott McNealy dropped a new hint about the work Sun's Network Computing event earlier this month: "Wouldn't it be cool if we brought open source to the database world in a big way?"

A mature industry in the past may have meant consolidation around three or four big providers, which indeed is happening in databases. But if the industry ever finds a way to accurately measure adoption of open-source products, things will likely look a lot less locked-up in three years.