December 2nd, 2008
Zoho launches CloudSQL; Plays anti-lock-in card
Zoho on Tuesday launched CloudSQL, a middleware layer that gives developers access to Zoho Applications data via a SQL database call.
With the move, Zoho is playing an anti-lock-in card. One of the biggest worries about software as a service is that your data–and your business–can be locked into one provider. Under Zoho’s plan, the company will allow third party applications to read and write data. In a nutshell, Zoho is allowing users to take their data via SQL.
The architecture looks like this:
Zoho’s CloudSQL supports ANSI, Oracle, Microsoft SQL Server, IBM DB2, MySQL, PostgreSQL and Informix. As a proof of concept Zoho has built a demo with Google’s AppEngine using CloudSQL. For now, CloudSQL is free. Zoho says it will monitor usage and then figure out whether the company needs to charge.
Larry Dignan is Editor in Chief of ZDNet and Editorial Director of ZDNet sister site TechRepublic. See his full profile and disclosure of his industry affiliations.
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