EnterpriseDB Corp., which sells a commercial version of the popular open-source Postgres database management system, today is announcing a program that helps qualifying organizations easily migrate from Oracle Corp. databases to Postgres.

The EDB Guaranteed Postgres Migration program is aimed at organizations and divisions of organizations in North America and Europe that are attempting their first migration and that qualify as being 97% Oracle-compatible as determined by EDB’s migration portal, according to Celest Turner Hall, senior vice president of product marketing. Candidates must be running Oracle version 11G or later.

Postgres is the fourth most-used database management system, according to SolidIT Consulting & Software Development gmbh’s DB-Engines ranking, although Oracle maintains a firm grip on the No. 1 slot. EDB is hoping that the costs and contractual limitations of Oracle licenses will prompt some organizations to seek a more flexible and less expensive alternative. The Guaranteed Postgres Migration program is intended to address some of the biggest migration barriers.

Calling its flagship product “the industry-leading Oracle-compatible Postgres database,” EDB said it has long strived to make its Postgres emulate the look and feel of Oracle for database administrators with products like the EDB Postgres Advanced Server, which offers cross-engine replication, and Migration Portal, which provides details on how to migrate and a data definition language that is familiar to Oracle users.

Low-cost appeal

“There is a significant opportunity across the database space to take advantage of the fact that customers are cost-conscious and don’t want to pay additional for support, which is included in our plans,” Turner Hall said.

EDB has a range of deployment plans that include on-premises, deployment, self-managed private cloud and a fully managed public cloud database-as-a-service called EDB BigAnimal. Turner Hall said the company has “a lot of experience performing these migrations, not only from a technical standpoint but also in terms of support and professional services. Customers want someone who understands both sides and has been doing this for years,” she said.

The EDB Guaranteed Postgres Migration program includes what the company calls a zero-risk migration service that ensures that migration expectations are met without additional costs. EDB can migrate schemas and data from Oracle in 20 days or less in most cases, the company said. The base $65,000 cost covers up to 40 days of professional migration service and remediation of up to 25 incompatible application queries. Additional migration services are provided at no cost and EDB will move the first application for free.

Turner Hall said EDB isn’t looking to cash in on the migration service. “We know once companies start, they’ll see the value and stay a long time,” she said. Although she declined to estimate the cost savings customers could see, “we’ve heard from customers that there can be up to 80% savings,” she said.

The success of the program won’t be measured by numbers. “If we get hundreds of folks, that’s great,” she said. “If we get five, that’s great, too.”

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