Although real comparability to Oracle and IBM databases could still be some time away, MySQL's new authorized hosting program might help broaden out the niche for the open source database a lot more quickly.

MySQL AB started developing a new program for hosting partners in early 2007, about a year before Sun announced its $1 billion bid to acquire the open source database vendor, said Rich Nigro, MySQL's service provider business manager. Unveiled earlier this week, the new MySQL Authorized Hosting Partner Program gives managed hosting companies using the top-of-the-line Enterprise edition of the MySQL database an option for 24/7 database support directly from MySQL.

"It's too early to tell how the [database support program] will fit with the Sun acquisition," Nigro told BetaNews this week. "But moving forward, this will continue to be an important market for MySQL [hosters]."

In devising the program, MySQL consulted with many different managed hosters, end users, and industry analysts about its nature and composition, according to Nigro.

Earlier this week, Gregg Kitaeff, one of the people who gave input to MySQL, told BetaNews that he thinks the new hosting partner program could open up some new business opportunities for his company, Logicworks, a managed hoster for databases and applications from MySQL, Microsoft, Oracle, and Red Hat Software.

Nigro said this week that the hosting program is designed mostly to meet the needs of software as a service (SaaS) providers and other hosters who need to offer "meaningful SLAs" (service level agreements) to their own customers.

"Up until recently, most managed service providers were unwilling to offer a 'full' SLA to customers [using] MySQL, because they felt they had nowhere to turn for bug fixes or support, or because they were unsure what the market might be for charging for these services," Nigro told BetaNews.

A market for fully supported hosting of the MySQL database would appear to already exist. A Web search by BetaNews this week turned up a proliferation of companies offering MySQL database hosting, ranging from household names such as Yahoo Hosting to smaller hosters like StartLogic, Joyent, and Rimu.

Meanwhile, users are asking each other online for recommendations on MySQL hosters.

"I'm getting ready to deploy a Ruby on Rails Web site with a MySQL database, and I am currently looking for a hosting service. Does anybody have any recommendations or hosts to stay away from?" one user requested.

Users are also panning certain MySQL service providers online due to their perceptions of slow database response times, slow account set-up times, or the need for the customer to be conversant with Sun Solaris, for example.

Many of these hosters provide limited storage on their servers, of about 1,500 GB of storage and 15,000 GB of transfer bandwidth, at relatively low pricing of between $4.95 and $6.95 per month.

But others offer several tiers of database storage at varying price levels. Adhost, for example, advertises Value, Business, Professional, and Corporate level hosting of MySQL and Microsoft SQL Server databases, at prices ranging from $19.95 per month for 100 MB of storage to $99.95 per month for 2,000 MB of database storage (exclusive of set-up fees). Additional storage is also available.

Members of a large contingent of other hosters don't focus specifically on databases, but instead provide database hosting along with other services. LogicWorks, for example, provides database hosting in conjunction with high availability database services; managed storage services; complex managed hosting; and managed virtualization.

In addition, Logicworks is now offering "no transactions lost" SLAs for MySQL as well as Oracle and Microsoft databases.

When Sun announced plans to buy out MySQL in mid-January, many observers predicted that Sun would ultimately try to optimize the open source RDBMS for enterprise use.

Logicworks' Kitaeff told BetaNews earlier this week that he thinks MySQL's new authorized hosting program could help to position MySQL more on a par with databases from Microsoft, Oracle, and IBM, by showing the kind of customer support and commitment that enterprise customers typically expect.

As an intermediary but intermediate step, though, maybe the program will help MySQL to carve out a broader niche of its own, among developers and other smaller customers who don't necessarily require the full horsepower of an Oracle database, but who are looking for full, around-the-clock database support -- and who are willing to pay extra for that level of service.

MySQL lists its pricing for authorized hosting partners on its Web site. MySQL hosters, however, follow a number of different business and pricing models.