MySQL Says Yes to VARs, No to IPO (For Now)

The VAR Guy was half-right. He figured MySQL would launch a partner program during this week’s big customer and developer conference in Santa Clara. He also expected the open source database provider to announce plans for an IPO later this year. Alas, Wall Street may have to wait a little longer.

First, details about the partner program. The MySQL Enterprise Connection Alliance (MECA) is a multi-tiered partner program serving hardware and software vendors, resellers/distributors, training providers, hosting companies, systems integrators and consulting firms. The company says MECA members will receive discounts to MySQL software subscriptions and support, joint marketing and sales opportunities, as well as assistance in assuring their commercial solutions work well with MySQL Enterprise and other MySQL database tools.

In addition to including traditional open source companies like Red Hat, JasperSoft and SugarCRM, the MECA program also includes distribution heavyweight Ingram Micro.

Meanwhile, MySQL CEO Marten Mickos told Reuters that the company intends to go public–but perhaps not this year. And he also stressed that the IPO is part of a long-term roadmap rather than an outright destination.

MySQL’s database is downloaded from the Internet 50,000 times per day and more than 1 million times per month. Eager adopters include Google, Nokia, Yahoo, YouTube and Wikipedi.