When big box stores start popping up all over in a zip code area here in the United States, it’s validation that population growth is not far behind. When countless start-ups and established companies all begin building products and services that target an emerging market, it’s validation that the market is set to take off. From what I read in the recent news, cloud databases are set to go sky high (pun intended).
This past 
December at Dreamforce 2010, salesforce.com kicked off a wave of cloud database announcements with Database.com. Since then, there’s been a number of interesting developments in the Database as a Service (DbaaS) market that confirm that the The Future of Databases is in the Clouds. Here’s just a few.
- Amazon.com’s Amazon Web Services (AWS) currently offers a MySQL version of Amazon Relational Database Service (RDS), and recently announced plans to begin offering an Oracle version very soon.
- Ingres, a commercially supported open-source analytic database, recently announced that its SkySafe cloud database service is available on public clouds, including AWS.
- Xeround, a new cloud database startup based on a custom MySQL storage engine running on top of AWS, has recently expanded its private beta to include AWS Europe and released an add-on to work with saleforce.com’s Heroku platform for Ruby on Rails apps.
- NimbusDB, a new cloud database startup, is in alpha release to selected customers.
- Couchone and Membase, two non-relational NoSQL cloud persistence services, recently merged to form Couchbase and provide integrated offerings.
And the list seems to grow every week with new announcements about DbaaS. It’s proof that the new cloud database market segment is vibrant, innovative, and just getting started.
