Mandriva supports IBM's move to make DB2 open source

Mandriva, a publisher of the popular Mandriva Linux operating system, announced its support for IBM's move to allow the open source industry and community to freely access a new version of its industry leading enterprise dataserver, DB2.

Mandriva considers IBM as one of the key builders of the momentum enjoyed by the open source development and distribution model. Mandriva will leverage the free version of DB2 -- Universal Database Express-C (DB2 Express-C) -- to allow enterprises to develop applications based on IBM's renowned dataserver technology. The collaboration between the two companies has been fruitful, with Mandriva's products already achieving 'ready for DB2' status for Intel-based 32-bit platforms and the ready for DB2 designation of Mandriva Linux 2006 and Corporate Server for Intel 64-bit being completed. Going forward, Mandriva plans to bundle DB2 Express-C with the next versions of its enterprise products. IBM will offer DB2 Express-C as a free download for customers and developers to use and/or bundle with their applications starting on January 30th, 2006.

This version is fully functional and not limited. No-fee support for DB2 Express-C will be offered via a community forum. IBM sees this initiative as a new opportunity to ease the work of enterprise customers or developers who want to design and deploy new mission critical applications based on IBM's industry-leading DB2 technology. Mandriva sees it as an opportunity to expand the number of software vendors and developers ready to design offerings based on IBM's DB2 technology.