INSUBCONTINENT EXCLUSIVE:
MariaDB, the company behind the eponymousMySQL drop-in replacement database, today announced that it has acquired Clusterix, which itself is
a MySQL drop-in replacement database, but with a focus on scalability
MariaDB will integrate Clusterix technology into its own database, which will allow it to offer its users a more scalable database service
in the long run.That by itself would be an interesting development for the popular open source database company
But there another angle to this story, too
In addition to the acquisition, MariaDB also today announced that cloud computing company ServiceNow is investing in MariaDB, an investment
that helped it get to today acquisition
ServiceNow doesn&t typically make investments, though it has made a few acquisitions
It is a very large MariaDB user, though, and it exactly the kind of customer that will benefit from the Clusterix acquisition.MariaDB CEO
Michael Howard tells me that ServiceNow current supports about 80,000 instances of MariaDB
With this investment (which is actually an add-on to MariaDB 2017 Series C round), ServiceNow SVP of Development and Operations Pat Casey
will join MariaDB board.Why would MariaDB acquire a company like Clusterix, though When I asked Howard about the motivation, he noted that
he now seeing more companies like ServiceNow that are looking at a more scalable way to run MariaDB
Howard noted that it would take years to build a new database engine from the ground up.&You can hire a lot of smart people individually,
but not necessarily have that experience built into their profile,& he said
&So that was important and then to have a jumpstart in relation to this market opportunity — this mandate from our market
It typically takes about nine years, to get a brand new, thorough database technology off the ground
It not like a SaaS application where you can get a front-end going in about a year or so.Howard also stressed that the fact that the teams
at Clusterix and MariaDB share the same vocabulary, given that they both work on similar problems and aim to be compatible with MySQL, made
this a good fit.While integrating the Clusterix database technology into MariaDB won&t be trivial, Howard stressed that the database was
always built to accommodate external database storage engines
MariaDB will have to make some changes to its APIs to be ready for the clustering features of Clusterix
&It not going to be a 1-2-3 effort,& he said
&It going to be a heavy-duty effort for us to do this right
But everyone on the team wants to do it because it good for the company and our customers.MariaDB did not disclose the price of the
Since it was founded in 2006, though, the Y Combinator-incubated Clusterix had raised just under $72 million, though
MariaDB has raised just under $100 million so far, so it probably a fair guess that Clusterix didn&t necessarily sell for a large multiple
