MySQL Buys Web Tools Vendor, Adds Two Execs

Open-source database developer MySQL AB announced that it has acquired Netfrastructure Inc., a small vendor of tools for building Web-based applications. The price MySQL paid for Manchester, Mass.-based Netfrastructure wasn't disclosed.

Uppsala-based MySQL also said it has hired Netfrastructure founder Jim Starkey as its senior software architect. Earlier in his career, Starkey founded InterBase Software Corp. and developed its namesake relational database. InterBase was one of the first databases to use event alerts and triggers and include support for binary large objects. Starkey also participated in the development of the former Digital Equipment Corp.'s RDB database.

In addition, MySQL named Taneli Otala its chief technology officer. Otala previously was CTO at SenSage Inc., a San Francisco-based vendor of security analytics tools, and he earlier worked as a development manager at Oracle Corp.

MySQL's acquisition of Netfrastructure follows Oracle's recent purchases of two open-source database vendors, Innobase Oy and Sleepycat Software Inc. Both of those firms offered storage engines that can be used with MySQL.