SANTA CLARA, USA: Sun Microsystems, Inc. has announced the general availability of MySQL 5.1, a new version of open source database, designed to improve performance and simplify management of large database applications.

The announcement was made during the sixth annual MySQL Conference and Expo.

"If our users initially choose MySQL because of its low cost, they continue to use MySQL for its high performance, scalability and broad platform support," said Marten Mickos, svp, database group, Sun Microsystems. "MySQL 5.1 continues this tradition by performing up to 15 percent faster than previous versions in our own internal tests - making it a compelling solution for demanding Web-based enterprise applications."

"We're using MySQL 5.1 in production for a Weblog discovery code database which indexes approximately 18 million URLs per day," said Kevin Burton, founder and CEO of Spinn3r.com. "The new features in 5.1 extend the ease-of-use, scalability, and performance that MySQL is already famous for, so it can continue to meet the increasingly-demanding requirements of today's database applications."

MySQL 5.1 features a number of new enterprise enhancements, including:

* Table and Index Partitioning - MySQL 5.1 supports five forms of horizontal data partitioning: range, hash, key, list, and composite (sub-partitioning). By partitioning table and index data, faster query response times can be achieved as only the relevant partitions of data need to be scanned, instead of the entire table or index. Further, various storage and other maintenance operations are made much easier and accomplished more quickly via partitioning.

* Row-Based and Hybrid Replication - Two new replication options are now available in MySQL 5.1. Row-based replication replicates the data changes (rather than the actual SQL statements) between a master server and its slave servers, and hybrid replication uses either statement-based or row-based replication depending on the individual SQL operations - these achieve and maintain the most efficient and safest replication scheme for the application.

* Event Scheduler - This new tool allows developers and DBAs to automatically schedule common recurring SQL-based tasks to execute on the database server. It provides greater support for database-specific tasks than is available through CRON in Linux or Unix or the Microsoft Windows task scheduler.

* New Upgrade Advisor in MySQL Enterprise Monitor - Available to MySQL Enterprise subscribers, the new Upgrade Advisor provides automated rules that monitor and advise DBAs about specific bugs that can might impact their deployed versions of MySQL 5.1. When potential issues are detected, subscribers are given recommendations how to upgrade their database servers to correct the problem.