interesting news snippet..
Red Hat Angel Investor Funds New Open-Source Software Startup to Take On
Database Giants
NORFOLK, Va., May 9, 2000 (BUSINESS WIRE) --
Frank Batten Jr.'s new Great Bridge LLC to commercialize world's
most advanced open-source database
Landmark Communications, a large privately held media company whose chairman
bankrolled Linux leader Red Hat Inc., announced it has funded a wholly owned
subsidiary with the intention of doing for databases what Red Hat did for Linux
and operating systems - give business a formidable open source alternative to
existing proprietary applications.
Newly formed Great Bridge LLC is backed by more than $25 million from Landmark
Communications, a media conglomerate involved in broadcast, print and
interactive media including The Weather Channel, the Virginian-Pilot newspaper,
and weather.com. Batten funded Red Hat's successful launch and IPO last year,
and served on its board of directors.
As Red Hat has done for the open-source Linux operating system, Great Bridge
will market commercial products, services and support for PostgreSQL (popularly
called "Postgres"), a rapidly evolving, open-source database that rivals leading
proprietary databases such as Oracle and Microsoft SQL Server in performance and
features. After recently winning the prestigious LinuxWorld award for Best
Database Management System, the judges said PostgreSQL "has become one of the
most mature and powerful open-source tools available."
Open-source software like PostgreSQL and Linux is freely owned, enhanced and
supported by global grassroots communities of elite programmers, rather than by
a single company. Working with this collaborative software community, Great
Bridge will help proliferate the commercial adoption of Postgres by providing
the financial stability, assurance and professional support organization
corporate buyers require.
The Postgres development community consists of hundreds of developers worldwide,
guided by a six-member core steering group, similar to the way Linux creator
Linus Torvalds oversees and screens new enhancements for Linux. A key member of
the steering group is joining Great Bridge as a senior developer, and the
company intends to recruit other members from the Postgres community as well.
"While PostgreSQL's Internet presence is growing rapidly, commercial acceptance
has been hampered by the lack of a large-scale support organization," said Bruce
Momjian, a PostgreSQL core member and author of PostgreSQL: Introduction and
Concepts (Addison-Wesley). "Even though we continue to make huge advances using
the open-source development model, many businesses prefer to get database
support from a trusted, professional enterprise. I am excited to see Great
Bridge providing that support."
Great Bridge will operate initially as a wholly owned subsidiary of Landmark,
which under Batten's leadership has made significant investments in other
technology companies over the past two years. Alfred Ritter, former Landmark
executive vice president and CFO, will head the company as president and CEO.
Robert Strickland, former Landmark chief technology officer who held senior
technology officer positions at MediaOne, Harvard Business School and The
Weather Channel, will serve as CTO. Ned Lilly, a veteran of several
Landmark-funded web startups, will serve as vice president of open-source
development. David Mele, a new ventures director at Landmark and former manager
with Andersen Consulting, will serve as vice president of marketing.
"We strongly believe that the open-source process is a fundamentally better way
to develop software," said Frank Batten, Jr., Chairman of the Board, Landmark
Communications. "Products like Red Hat Linux and Apache Web Server proved these
technologies can be commercial successes thanks to the faster development
cycles, fewer bugs and better flexibility their development communities were
able to deliver. The next big venue for the open-source movement will be the
database market. We scrutinized all the potential open-source database systems,
and Postgres was by far the most sophisticated, ready-for-prime time offering."
Postgres in progress
Today's unveiling of Great Bridge coincides with the Postgres development
community's launch of PostgreSQL version 7.0, which adds significant performance
improvements, new querying capabilities, and over 300 other enhancements.
While Great Bridge will officially open for business in August, the company has
already made significant progress working with the Postgres community to help
make the technology a commercial contender:
--In March, Great Bridge hosted the first-ever face-to-face meeting of the
PostgreSQL core developers- a three-day meeting in San Francisco at which the
core steering group and Great Bridge agreed to coordinate their respective
efforts on technology improvements, with Great Bridge focusing on identifying
key product and service features required by business customers.
--Great Bridge has established a testing and integration lab and initiated the
most comprehensive benchmark tests of PostgreSQL to date to give corporate
technology buyers fair and accurate product performance comparisons.
--The company has launched what it believes is the most extensive market
research program ever conducted for an open-source software product to help it
better understand and meet customer needs, and lay the foundation for the
company's business model. These efforts include an initial round of 32
qualitative focus groups conducted across four U.S. cities and an ongoing
program of statistically valid quantitative research.
"While open-source development yields superior software, businesses have been
reluctant to deploy open-source alternatives without a reliable, professional
enterprise behind them. The Postgres community has done an exemplary job in
developing a standards-based, object-relational SQL database that can handle the
heaviest demands of many e-commerce and enterprise applications," said Ritter.
"Postgres can only get better. The community will continue to develop its
capabilities beyond the award-winning features and performance it has already
achieved. We at Great Bridge will be active contributing members of the
community. And, we are committed to providing the kind of service and support
that will encourage businesses to enjoy the benefits of this open-source
database."
Great Bridge will unveil its initial product and service offerings in August,
along with additional members of its management team, and information regarding
its channel strategy and business model.
About Great Bridge
Great Bridge LLC is committed to making open-source software commercially
viable, and will be the leading commercial provider of PostgreSQL database
products, service and support. Headquartered in Norfolk, Va., Great Bridge is a
wholly owned subsidiary of Landmark Communications Inc. (www.landmarkcom.com), a
multinational media company with businesses in newspapers; broadcasting; cable
programming; electronic publishing; and specialty media, including guide books,
billboards, interactive media and a new career schools division. The privately
held company employs more than 5,000 people worldwide.
Distributed via COMTEX.
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