A South Korean DBMS (database management system) company called SUNJESOFT has introduced its source code to the public and is converting to an open-source company. As major companies as well as the public sector are becoming more interested in adopting open source as they become assimilated in a cloud computing era.
SUNJESOFT announced on Wednesday that it plans to introduce the source code to its DBMS called “Goldilocks” by the end of this month and inform the public through different ways such as the National IT Industry Promotion Agency’s software (SW) homepage.
The company has been upgrading the Goldilocks for the past ten years. Due to the system’s rapid database processing speed, the company has supplied the system to financial institutions such as Korea Exchange, Koscom, and Samsung Securities and telecommunications companies such as SK Telecom. The system has also been used for projects of major government departments such as Ministry of the Interior and Safety, Ministry of Justice, and National Fire Agency.
The company plans to make a contribution towards development of South Korea’s cloud-based DBMS by becoming an open-source company. “By participating in development of the Ministry of Science and ICT’s national project called ‘Next-Generation Cloud Database Platform’, SUNJESOFT has been working on core cloud-based DBMS technologies that can be extensible.” said one representative from SUNJESOFT. “The company plans to make these technologies public in order to make a contribution towards development of South Korea’s DBMS.”
Until now, Cubrid has practically been the only company in South Korea’s open-source DBMS market. After introducing the source code for the first time in 2008, the company has seen about 300,000 downloads for the source code. More than 600 systems from companies and public institutions such as National Information Resources Service, Defense Integrated Data Center, and Naver currently use Cubrid’s source code.
Another company called Altibase introduced its source code in 2018 before SUNJESOFT decided to make its source code public. South Korean DBMS companies are gradually converting to open-source companies because they believe there is marketability in becoming open-source companies.
There has been an increase in number of companies and public institutions that are trying to introduce open-source software as they are looking to use domestic open-source software rather than database systems from Oracle and others that are much more expensive for transition process to a cloud-based system.
The public sector that has been passive about introducing open-source software is also looking to introduce open-source software as it decided to convert its entire system to a cloud-based system by 2025. Local governments from Daejeon and Daegu that are preparing to establish public cloud centers as well as National Information Resources Service have been active in trying to introduce open-source software.
According to National IT Industry Promotion Agency, South Korea’s open source market is expected to grow at an average of 14% annually and from $250 million (284.3 billion KRW) in 2019 to $410 million (460 billion KRW) in 2024. Because global open source companies such as EDB and MariaDB have been actively targeting the South Korean market, competition amongst domestic and foreign companies is expected to become more intense.
Jung Byeong-ju, who is the CEO of Cubrid, said that more companies and the public sector are beginning introduce open-source software to their systems and that there will be more DBMS companies like SUNJESOFT that becomes an open-source company and more people who use open-source software as the market is expected to grow continuously.
Staff Reporter Kim, Jiseon | river@etnews.com