The chief executive of Oracle challenger EnterpriseDB is trying to convince business users there is an alternative to the database giant

There's no phone number on the PostgreSQL.org open-source database website. And for EnterpriseDB chief executive Andy Astor, whose company makes money from a PostgreSQL-based product, that's been a problem.

On Tuesday, Astor's company launched a site called the EnterpriseDB Postgres Resource Center, which gives interested parties a phone number to call and, Astor hopes, other useful items.

The site's launch coincides with this week's LinuxWorld conference in San Francisco and includes a package of software tools meant to make it easier for business customers to install the open-source database. The site also offers technical information to developers.

The software package includes the PostgreSQL database, along with a multi-operating system installer, administration tools and a text-search add-on. EnterpriseDB intends to offer support, training and installation services around the database.

The larger hope in setting up the site and database bundle is to create more critical mass around PostgreSQL, Astor said.

PostgreSQL is an enterprise-class database, but it faces competition from other database alternatives, both open source and proprietary.

The new website "creates a centre around which the market can develop and drive adoption of PostgreSQL, which, frankly, has been slow to develop because there is nobody at the centre. This is us trying to create a centre," said Astor. "We hope it will become the de facto open-source database distribution."

EnterpriseDB Advanced Server, which is built on top of PostgreSQL, will remain a separate product from the open-source distribution available on the site.

New Jersey-based EnterpriseDB has signed up about 125 customers that have bought EntepriseDB Advanced Server as a replacement for Oracle.

The company has built compatibility with Oracle, the most widely-used corporate database, and sells it as an enterprise-grade alternative at a fraction of the cost, according to Astor.

EnterpriseDB on Tuesday also extended its product line with a version of its database tuned specifically for large databases used in business-intelligence applications.

Called GridSQL for EnterpriseDB Advanced Server, the product is designed for analysing large amounts of data across several parallel servers.

Another open-source company, Greenplum, has also developed a specialised edition of PostgreSQL for high-end business-intelligence applications.

Copyright © 1995-2008 CNET Networks, Inc. All rights reserved
ZDNET is a registered service mark of CNET Networks, Inc. ZDNET Logo is a service mark of CNET Networks, Inc.