MySQL AB is looking for developers, supporters and salespeople to join their operations in Australia, Arjen Lentz, a spokesperson for the company, told Builder AU.
"We want our support people to be spread across the time zones and want to improve coverage in the Asia Pac region," Lentz said. "We are also looking for at least one sales person here. Aussies prefer to talk with a local. Also, with time zones, it's more practical than handling from the US or Europe," added Lentz.
While MySQL are looking for the above people locally, Lentz insists that each developer applicant competes on a global scale, based on skill and experience.
"We know that there are plenty of highly skilled developers in Australia, specifically witnessed by the high number active in various open source projects. So it appears to be an excellent resource just begging to be tapped".
The company is one of the dominant players in the open source marketplace, with more than 5 million active installations of its database technology worldwide.
The MySQL database is most well known for its role in the LAMP (Linux, Apache, MySQL, PHP/Perl/ Python) Web platform. Many companies use LAMP to escape the perceived cost issues associated with proprietary software licences, as well as vendor lock-in.
The database technology has also grown popular into other areas such as the embedded and data warehousing market.
The company offers two licences for its technology, GPL-licensed open-source version and commercial licenced version for companies that can't or do not want to comply with the GNU GPL.
MySQL AB make money from sales of their commercial software licenses and support and training services offered.
Lentz, who is also a technical writer and trainer for MySQL AB, said "Companies that have previously opted for database servers from other brands, but are now looking towards MySQL for a variety of reasons including lower TCO".
While Lentz acknowledges that MySQL does not have all the features offered by its competitors, MySQL AB has its eyes firmly on the commoditised database market in Australia.
"There is no need to aim for 100 percent of this huge market -- however within the commoditised space, which we estimate to be at least 80 percent of the applications out there -- we offer excellent value with speed, reliability and full support by a solid company".
It's not really true to say there's vendor lock-in with SQL databases. SQL is a common standard.