"Progress Software Corporation (NASDAQ: PRGS), a leading supplier of application development, deployment and management products and services, today announced an agreement with the principal MySQL developers to release MySQL under the General Public License (GPL) and insure MySQL expands its strong leadership position beyond the open source community. To create an open source business, Progress Software has formed NuSphere, a Progress Software Company, to distribute and support the NuSphere MySQL(TM) open source database. By creating NuSphere, Progress Software is the first major global software vendor to offer commercial support and services for an open source database..."

"Open source has proven its value through the Linux operating system and the Apache Web server. We believe the path is clear: an open source database will be next," said D. Britton Johnston, vice president of Development and Marketing for NuSphere. "Progress Software, through NuSphere and the MySQL development community will bring to the database market the resources needed to allow widespread deployment of MySQL-based solutions in organizations of all sizes."

"Through NuSphere, Progress Software will be providing up to $2.5 million (US) to help further the development of MySQL. NuSphere will extend the core development team's efforts by creating NuSphere MySQL(TM); a multi-platform integrated distribution of MySQL and related open source products. NuSphere will provide commercial support, consulting, and training for customers deploying MySQL as part of their Web infrastructure. As a single, global source of integrated services for MySQL, NuSphere will provide support from three main centers in the U.S., the Netherlands and Australia."

Press Release.