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Press Release 08/23/2005

db4o Open Source Database Flourishes as a Client-side, Embedded Engine
Analysts Spot Escalation in Embedded DBMS Market

SAN MATEO, Calif., August 23, 2005 - db4objects, providers of the leading object database for Java and .NET, today announced that one year after its incorporation, the company's open source dual license business model has catapulted its embedded object database db4o to success. Analysts confirm that db4o is at the heart of growing demand for self-contained applications that can manage data without the need for a database administrator (DBA).

Within just eight months of launch, db4o realized more than 250,000 downloads and is now supported by a registered user community of some 6,000 users - making it the world's most popular object database. As a company, db4objects has been periodically breaking financially even since inception, and has successfully closed commercial deals with leading corporations including BMW, Hertz, and BOSCH.

Keys to the company's winning market focus and open source business model are explained in a db4objects' business backgrounder, available for free download. This paper illustrates why and how object database technology is making a hearty comeback.

In addition, leading IT market research and advisory firm IDC released the report "Embedded Databases: The Invisible Engine That Could," August 2005, demonstrating substantial growth in the embedded database management system (DBMS) market. According to IDC, the open source paradigm will provide interesting and creative business models that should help promote the adoption of embedded data management platforms. The report, sponsored by db4objects, is available for free download.

"Object-oriented DBMSs could well enjoy a second growth period as embedded DBMSs due to the efficient and flexible data management they offer object-oriented applications, and open source DBMSs are also attractive as embedded DBMSs because of the technological control they offer ISVs as well as flexibility in licensing," says Carl Olofson, research director for information and data management software at IDC. "db4objects is in the interesting position of offering the benefits of object-oriented DBMS technology and open source licensing, making its value proposition appealing on two fronts."

According to IDC's estimates, the embedded DBMS market grew 15% to $1.86 billion in 2004, and is expected to blossom to $3.18 billion in 2009 ("Worldwide Embedded Database Management Systems 2003 Vendor Shares," IDC# 32468, December 2004). While Oracle, IBM and Microsoft commanded only 25.1% of this pie, the same three combined control about 85% of the overall relational DBMS market ("Worldwide RDBMS 2004 Vendor Shares: Preliminary Results for the Top 5 Vendors Show a Solid Boost," IDC# 32969, March 2005.) db4objects believes that these facts indicate that customers seek specialized capabilities in various segments of the embedded market, that go beyond what RDBMS can offer.

Other analysts agree that non-relational technologies are increasingly common in the embedded space, versus the "classical" use of databases.

Chris Lanfear, director at Venture Development Corporation (VDC), says: "Especially on the client side, such as in stand-alone devices and other zero-administration environments, engineers look for innovative persistence solutions that meet their immediate specifications and help them outrun the competition. As a result, more than 50% of embedded and device software developers still build their own database tools today. With the advent of standardized object-oriented platforms, such as embedded Java and the .NET CompactFramework, we expect object databases to become a universal solution for OO persistence - with db4o's open source offering leading the charge."

Redmonk director Stephen O'Grady was recently quoted in eWeek stating that people are starting to question the relational model's aptness for particular jobs. "There's an increasing recognition in the open source world that other, non-relational models are called for," he said, citing db4objects' OO open source database as "an early indication of what we may see coming from open source database vendors in the future."

db4objects continues to build on its technological leadership and its fast growing user community. Christof Wittig, CEO of db4objects, strictly focuses db4objects on object database technology that exactly meets the requirements of Java and .NET developers for embeddable persistence. With rapid user adoption in its back, he sees the company ideally positioned to be the leader in the embeddable OO database market segment in the long run.

About db4objects, Inc
db4objects, Inc (www.db4o.com) provides db4o, the only native object database for both Java and .NET, available under open source and commercial licenses. With more than 200,000 downloads and many more deployments, db4o is used by some of the world's most innovative companies, including BMW, Hertz, and Bosch. db4objects is a privately held company based in San Mateo, California, and backed by noted Silicon Valley investors including Mark Leslie, founding CEO of Veritas.

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