Virgin Mobile made a notable open-source splash yesterday when they announced they implemented MySQL to run their text-messaging SMS database. The announcement carries significant weight, as it shows that support for MySQL, the LAMP stack, and other open source infrastructures, is continuing to grow within the enterprise segment.
The volume of database queries that Virgin Mobile is expecting certainly speaks to the robustness of the MySQL Enterprise product, as Virgin Mobile is expecting over 500 gigabytes to be contained in the MySQL data tables, which will be subjected to thousands of queries per second.
MySQL is already firmly entrenched within the midmarket. With deals like this, it will be interesting to see how MySQL walks the fine line of supporting its already vast SMB/midmarket client base while scaling up to continue to penetrate an enterprise database market currently dominated by Oracle. This announcement certainly shows that progress is being made, and is also representative of the continuing trend I’m seeing within the telecom industry to consider non-proprietary strategies as part of its business model.
My wife and kids alone account for fully half of that SMS traffic.
Andy