Case IBM Power 10: A further step for MariaDB Server

Good news: This week, two of MariaDB Foundation’s sponsors – IBM and MariaDB plc – made an announcement that we believe to be good for both parties, as well as for the MariaDB Server user base. We humbly (and boldly) believe that this was enabled by MariaDB Foundation’s living by its core values of Adoption, Openness, and Continuity. 

Let me explain why, and start with the announcement itself:

MariaDB Enterprise Server Launches on IBM Power 10

MariaDB plc’s offering to its customers, MariaDB Enterprise Server, was launched for IBM Power 10. This was supported by a blog post from MariaDB plc (MariaDB Enterprise Server Launches on IBM Power10) and another by IBM (Announcing support for MariaDB Enterprise Server on IBM Power). 

SkySQL is our new Silver sponsor!

We’re excited to announce that SkySQL has joined the MariaDB Foundation as a Silver sponsor.

SkySQL is the first and only database service designed, built and optimised specifically for MariaDB Server. Recently spun out of MariaDB plc as an independent company, SkySQL remains led by the core team which created it and continues to provide the community with unique and powerful capabilities for running production databases in the cloud. With features such as autonomous scaling, subsecond failover and multi-cloud deployment, SkySQL provides a world-class cloud experience for the MariaDB community — and supports our mission of making MariaDB Server the preferred database of choice for all organisations.

MariaDB Vector at Intel Vision – AI Everywhere

AI was everywhere at Intel Vision this week in London. Nearly every keynote and breakout presentation was centred around AI. I had the honour of being interviewed by Intel’s jovial Chief Commercial Officer Christoph Schell, who is just about as stereotypically German as his former neighbour from Stuttgart Jürgen Klopp (whom he referenced on-stage), namely: not at all.

Staying German but perhaps a tad less Klopp-like, Thomas Bach was one of many interviewed on-stage by Christoph. The president of the International Olympic Committee nevertheless impressed me by his quick-witted reply to Christoph’s question as to how AI would have made an impact if it had been in place during Thomas Bach’s fencing career.

MariaDB plc – looking forward to business as usual

From near and from far, the same thing – in this case MariaDB plc – can look quite different. It’s all doom and gloom in an Infoworld article on MariaDB plc Can MariaDB’s enterprise business be saved? and its French translation in Le Monde Informatique L’activité entreprise de MariaDB bientôt liquidée ?

The turbulence seems exaggerated

True, our mission to provide Continuity is there to give users – including MariaDB plc customers – the confidence needed to continue using MariaDB Server under all circumstances. However, the turbulence portrayed in the press gives an unnecessarily bleak picture.

Feeling good: End-of-year recap of 2023

Our Sea Lion celebrates the end of a successful year, with a touch of Christmas spirit. We asked our AI Santa to create artwork that “evokes a sense of gratitude, optimism, and the magic of the holidays beneath the waves” – let me accompany the outcome with some reflections on the successful ending of the year.

Homework:  What makes you feel good?

The trigger for the reflections was the last team Zoom meeting of the year, on Tuesday. I had asked everyone to prepare by doing a personal recap of what has happened the last three months (basically since our Staff meeting, (Un)conference, and MariaDB Server Fest early October).

MariaDB Foundation Announces AWS as a Diamond Sponsor

HELSINKI — 4 October 2023 – The MariaDB Foundation, the global contact point for collaboration on the MariaDB Server, announced today that Amazon Web Services (AWS) has joined the Foundation as its first Diamond sponsor in order to continue the mission of openness, adoption and continuity for the MariaDB open source project.

According to the DB-Engines ranking list, the MariaDB Server is the third most popular open source relational database and ninth most popular relational database overall. This sponsorship will allow the Foundation to continue investing in its compatibility with other popular database solutions as well as to explore the role MariaDB Server can play in the growing world of generative AI.

MariaDB Un(Conference) and ServerFest Schedule 3-5 Oct 2023

We are happy to release the schedule (https://mariadb.org/fest2023-schedule/) of our upcoming meeting week Tue-Thu 3-5 October 2023.

The week comes with meetings in four flavours:

  1. The MariaDB Server Fest presentations, directed at users of MariaDB Server. This is on Thursday 5 October 2023.
  2. The MariaDB Unconference presentations, directed at core developers of MariaDB Server. This is on Wednesday 4 October 2023.
  3. The MariaDB Unconference work sessions, interactions getting work done between MariaDB Foundation staff and core members of the ecosystem (including but not limited to MariaDB plc employees).

On yearly goals, plc woes and habits at MariaDB Foundation

When setting long-term goals, striking the right balance is difficult: Not too generic (fluffy), not too specific (micromanagement). Not too few (lack of challenges), not too many (overwhelming). Consistently focusing on core values, while adapting to changes in the environment.

MariaDB Foundation’s internal goal setting process for 2023 seems to be working out well – and some lessons learned may be of interest even to our community.

The most important lesson learned is about our half-year review.

Adverse conditions when planning 2023

We set our 2023 yearly goals in December, with an emphasis on the first half of the year.