Open-source database firm EnterpriseDB is the latest to endorse Amazon.com’s services for running operations over the internet, with plans to offer its database online.

EnterpriseDB said it will from March begin beta-testing Advanced Server Cloud Edition on Amazon’s Elastic Compute Cloud (EC2), which provides remote hosting and usage-based pricing, and Simple Storage Service (S3), which provides data storage on a similar basis.

“This is another opportunity for customers,” said EnterpriseDB chief technology officer Bob Zurek. “Some will run on Windows, some on Macintosh, some on zSeries mainframes even, and some will choose the option to operate in the cloud. Companies like Salesforce.com, NetSuite and RightNow Technologies have paved the way for this.”

The EnterpriseDB move follows Red Hat, which late last year also disclosed plans for its own software to run on EC2 and S3. However, EnterpriseDB is not the first firm to tap into the idea of running databases over the internet - Amazon has its own SimpleDB, for example.

The EnterpriseDB program is based on the PostgreSQL code base but differentiates from open-source rivals in that it is compatible with Oracle database systems.

EnterpriseDB said the Cloud Edition will be a true transactional database and has recruited the aid of Elastra, a specialist in scaling web-based databases.

Proving low-latency and general performance of having servers in-house is likely to be EnterpriseDB’s biggest challenge. However, EnterpriseDB’s Zurek said, “We’ve conducted internal benchmarks and we were quite surprised by latency and delay results. If I were demonstrating the database now, you frankly wouldn’t see much of a difference between it running locally and in the cloud.”

Zurek said likely audiences for the Cloud Edition include web-based businesses, software-as-a-service vendors, and firms that want to test or evaluate workloads.
Applications to test EnterpriseDB can be made at the URL below. Zurek said that the company had not decided on pricing models for the trial but it is likely to follow a simple time- and usage-based model if customers approve. A full commercial offering is scheduled for this summer.