Two years after hitting the scene with its Hadoop-powered relational database, Splice Machine Inc. is opening a new chapter in its growth effort. The startup this morning announced plans to release the code for the system under a free license in a move timed to coincide with Spark Summit 2016.

Previously, the only way to try out Splice Machine without paying was using a limited evaluation version designed for proof-of-concept deployments. Removing the usage restriction makes the system accessible for developers interested in taking advantage of its capabilities for small-time application projects. Though they aren’t much of a revenue opportunity, attracting a large enough number of such users can go a long way towards raising awareness of a product in the broader techie community. And from there, commercial adoption has a tendency of increasing as well.

At the same time, open-sourcing the database will also enable Splice Machine to target firms that wouldn’t buy premium licenses but still be interested in using it in production. Such free deployments provide an opportunity to sell training, implementation and support services that can generate a lot of revenue over the lifespan of a maintenance contract. Nonetheless, the total price tag will probably still be significantly lower than what rivals like Oracle Corp. charge for their competing systems.

Splice Machine claims that its database is already up to 75 percent cheaper in its current commercial form, plus between 10 and 20 times faster when performing certain operations. The system’s speed is credited to the fact that high-priority queries are relegated to Apache Spark, which processes records in memory to accelerate the analysis. The startup is currently looking for contributors, sponsors and other outside backers to aid the platform’s open-source transition.

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