Sterling Commerce Taps MySQL To Power Gentran Integration Suite For Global 5000 Companies

Sterling Joins Apple, Sun, Novell and Others that Bundle MySQL with their Technology Solutions

SEATTLE, Wash - (August 19, 2003) - MySQL AB, developer of the world's most popular open source database, today announced that Sterling Commerce offers the MySQL® database to its Global 5000 customer base. Sterling Commerce ships MySQL as a back-end database that may be used with Sterling Commerce's popular Gentran Integration Suite, which provides an intelligent messaging gateway for Business-to-Business, EDI and Enterprise Application Integration.

Sterling Commerce, a wholly-owned subsidiary of SBC Communications, Inc. [NYSE:SBC], is a worldwide leader in providing business integration solutions for the Global 5000 and their business communities. Sterling Commerce helps these companies capitalize on opportunities for growth and profitability by providing comprehensive e-business solutions that address critical issues, including collaboration with business partners and integration of business processes throughout the value chain. The next-generation Gentran Integration Suite is Sterling Commerce's integration platform that allows customers to leverage legacy infrastructure and buy integration modules based on specific business needs.

"MySQL is an enterprise-quality database that stacks up to other top databases,” said Steve Ulrich, product manager at Sterling Commerce. "While Gentran Integration Suite supports all major databases, bundling MySQL with our solutions enables us to offer customers a powerful database with a very low cost-of-ownership.”

Sterling Commerce ships the MySQL database server as a free, built-in database with every copy of the Gentran Integration Suite. Sterling Commerce customers now have the option of using the high performance MySQL open source database to power their enterprise applications instead of paying for a proprietary database.

"MySQL AB also offers excellent support, both to Sterling Commerce and our customers," continued Ulrich. "As a partner, MySQL is responsive and works very closely with us. For our customers, MySQL provides the global, round-the-clock support that we require from our partners."

The MySQL database is a high-performance relational database management system for Web site and business application development and deployment. The MySQL database maximizes speed, stability and ease of deployment with a streamlined and functionally-rich feature set. It is one of the most widely used databases in the world, with more than 4 million installations.

“Sterling Commerce's integration of the MySQL database with its Gentran Integration Suite reflects the trend among large corporations to offer open source solutions as a major added benefit to customers,” said Mårten Mickos, MySQL CEO. "We expect many of Sterling Commerce's customers to rely on MySQL's performance, stability and ease-of-use to implement high-volume, business-critical applications."

MySQL’s Reach Expanding Via Third-Party Bundling, Embedding

MySQL is one of the most widely used databases in the world, and its user base continues to expand as companies like Sterling Commerce bundle and ship MySQL to their customers. MySQL is also distributed by third-party vendors that embed it as the database engine in their technology solutions. Leading companies such as Alcatel, BMC Software, Ericsson, Hyperion, and Vocera Communications have integrated the MySQL database in their commercial software.

MySQL AB employs a “dual licensing” business model in which MySQL is available for no cost under the free software/open-source GNU General Public License (GPL) and also under a non-GPL commercial license. A commercial license allows an organization to sell a MySQL-based product without making it open source. This dual licensing model allows MySQL AB to support the open source approach and, at the same time, establish a business model that supports it.

About MySQL

MySQL AB develops, markets and supports the MySQL database server, the world's most popular open source database. With an estimated 4 million installations and over 30,000 downloads per day, MySQL is quickly becoming the core of many high-volume, business-critical applications. Major corporations such as Yahoo!, Lucent Technologies, Sony Pictures Digital Entertainment, Motorola, NASA, HP, Xerox and Cisco rely on the ultra-fast, highly-reliable MySQL database. MySQL is available under the free software/open source GNU general public license (GPL) or a non-GPL commercial license. For more information about MySQL, please go to www.mysql.com.

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MySQL is a registered trademark of MySQL AB in the USA and other countries. Other products mentioned are the trademarks of their respective corporations.