MySQL extending 64-bit support for database

MySQL on Tuesday will announce a port of its MySQL open source database to the HP-UX operating system on the 64-bit Intel Itanium 2 chip, with a Windows XP version soon to follow.

The 4.0 version of the database for Hewlett-Packard HP-UX 11.u v2 on Itanium 2 will be downloadable Tuesday at http://www.mysql.com/downloads. A version for Windows XP, while available now in a pre-released form for on Itanium 2, will be production-ready in the second quarter of this year, said Zack Urlocker, vice president of marketing at MySQL.

"We think Itanium 2 is a great platform, and it really drives down the total cost of ownership," Urlocker said. MySQL already has ported its database to the Linux platform on Itanium 2.

HP-UX is getting a port prior to Windows XP because that is where demand has been, Urlocker said.

MySQL's backing of Itanium 2 boosts price performance for high-end applications such as reservation systems, e-commerce systems, and high-volume transaction applications, according to Urlocker.

The company offers its database under a dual-licensing format. For commercial, closed-source applications where source code will not be posted, a commercial license is needed for $450 per server. The software is available for free for open source applications.

MySQL's database porting announcement comes on the heels of the release of a study by Evans Data on Monday that found that MySQL usage grew by more than 30 percent in the last year.

"I think there's just a drive in the enterprise where people are trying to lower their cost and Linux has paved the way," Urlocker said in response to the Evans study.