News

Business Objects dips into the MySQL well

• By Stephen Swoyer
• January 9, 2006

Business Objects recently expanded its partnership with open-source database vendor MySQL by notching a new OEM referral agreement. That agreement follows a significant partnership with MySQL to embed the latter's database into versions of its BusinessObjects XI for use with Linux and UNIX. The new OEM referral agreement expands this arrangement to include a variety of bundled offerings tweaked for reporting and data integration for MySQL. The bundles include Crystal Reports and Business Objects' Data Integrator ETL tool, too.

MySQL has shipped with XI for more than half a year now. And at least one user who's had a chance to put the Business Objects and MySQL combination through its paces says he likes what he sees so far. "We're using MySQL for the metadata repositories," says Mark Madsen, a member of the TDWI Research collaborative and a consultant and data warehouse manager. "I don't have plans to use it for the query side. At least not right now."

Madsen says the XI/MySQL combination has a lot to recommend it, starting with ease of installation. "We're using MySQL for the metadata because it installs easily and quickly, has a much smaller footprint on the system and we don't need to worry about whether we have licenses available to run N copies of DB2 or SQL Server," he confirms.

At the same time, Madsen won't yet vouch for MySQL as a query performer, although he says he's fairly confident some organizations have tapped it for that role. "I don't know who's using MySQL for the query database, but I'm sure they're out there," he concludes. "Most places using MySQL for the data warehouse that I know about are using their own customer delivery software, or one of the open-source reporting projects."