_When we started on our journey of designing our SwitchCRM application that offered a fantastically intuitive user interface, delivered by a robust and resilient technical architecture, we eventually arrived at the technology crossroads of choosing a database.

Having spent 14 years working in an environment surrounded by Oracle technology, the natural inclination was to pick Oracle as a tried, tested and familiar option.  We defined in detail our database requirements and embarked on our research to establish whether there were other options out there.  To our great delight and surprise it was clear that MySQL was emerging as a very strong contender.

_Think Oracle database and you automatically associate the following:

• Capable of handling large data volumes
• Scalable
• Resilient features - RAC/failover
• Advanced stored procedure features
• Hot backups
• Reliable recovery

So how did MySQL stack up against the mighty Oracle?  Here are some of our findings:

• MySQL is extremely quick to install and setup. We were able to instantiate a new Linux VM, install the latest version of MySQL and set it up ready for the development environment.  Time taken = 2 hours.  Incredible.  Even some of the advanced configuration was easy.
• Fast Read Cycles. The application being developed (SwitchCRM) was showing sub-second retrieval of records from tables with 3 million+ records.
• Fast Insert/Updates.  Mission accomplished with a bit of smart design for tables, indexing, and foreign keys
• Replication was easy to setup. This gave us great horizontal scalability and failover capability.
• InnoDB Hot Backup wasn't too painful and provides SwitchCRM with 24 hour availability.
• We were very impressed with the MySQL Enterprise management portal which comes as standard.

The above experiences ticked all the boxes for MySQL.  For me, the 3 factors that really clinched it were:

1.     This may seem trivial but coming from an Oracle background it was an absolute delight to discover that the data retrieval in MySQL was case insensitive. This meant gone were the days of users having to try various combinations of %Jo%, %jo% for retrieving John. This can be achieved by Oracle pragmatically but we were pleased to see this as an inherent feature (accidental design?) in MySQL.

2.     Oracle pricing.  Has anyone seen the recent price list for Oracle products? It seems to have jumped at least 5 times in 5 years. Every feature seems to come with an expensive price tag.  And just when you think you are covered because you shrewdly purchased Oracle Database Enterprise Edition they throw a curve ball by pointing out that Partitioning is an additional extra. Don't get me started on licensing...

3.     Industry standard support for Enterprise Edition MySQL from Oracle is very re-assuring.  Support costs for MySQL Enterprise Edition are far more sensible then their Oracle equivalent.

In the end the decision was simple.  MySQL was the clear winner based on ease of installation and maintenance, performance, resilience and many development friendly features.   Oh yes and there’s the small matter of cost. 

With Google Apps you can use a proper @yourbusiness.com email address which looks very professional.  The real big benefit of using Gmail is that you can pick up your email on your Smartphone.  Gmail is a doddle to set up on Smartphones and means that you have access to your email when you are away from your PC. 

So, you are well on with setting up your business but the phone bill is building up and you are spending a lot of time in meetings with suppliers trying to finalise specifications, build your product, reviewing documentation etc..  A great alternative to travelling and expensive phone calls is skype www.skype.com.  Skype is free to sign up and offers you free Skype to Skype calls across the internet.  Just register a user account, make sure the person you wish to contact has a Skype account and give them a call.  Most modern laptops have inbuilt microphones so you don’t have to sit all wired up like David Coleman.  In our experience the call quality is always very good.  You can make Group conference calls with other Skype users which works well.  A great feature on Skype allows you to share your desktop with other users on the call - perfect for playing back ideas or running through a presentation.  Skype works well on a normal residential broadband connection.  It is possible to make Video Calls too (again free) but it can result in degradation of the audio (where you sound like whales chatting).  Give it a try – there is nothing to lose.  Microsoft have just bought Skype so it will be interesting to see if they continue to offer such a great free service.

Next on the list is Dropbox.  www.dropbox.com.  We love Dropbox.  It is like having your own 2Gb network drive in the cloud.  We use it an awful lot.  It takes seconds to set up and it appears on your desktop just like any other folder on your computer.  If you have a multi-site business, Dropbox is a brilliant shared workspace.  Great also for setting up Issue Logs with your suppliers since you can both access the same document rather than play email tennis.  Marvellous!

The beauty of the above Apps is that they can be up and running in minutes.  Since they are cloud-based there is no hassle of buying hardware, setting up servers, comms etc.  They just work – brilliantly!  It is like ‘software to go’, all the benefits without the hassle. 

A Potted Horrible History
The IT industry made a fool of itself over the biggest non-event of the last century – The Millenium Bug.  Millions were made on the back of the greatest Fear, Uncertainy and Doubt (FUD) story ever.  Complete codswallop.  However, 11 years on a very different IT landscape is emerging.  Young dynamic, nimble digital businesses are springing up and challenging the bloated Status Quo (you know which one I mean). 

This new breed of supplier is offering customers are very different IT experience.  Some suppliers are giving away ‘lite’ versions of their software or making ‘pro’ versions available for a low monthly subscription.  For a new business venture this is fantastic news since it means you can get your business up and running for minimal financial outlay.  A few of these are listed below.  These are not shameless plugs, SilverTin are not re-sellers for any of the companies list below.  We just use their products and really like the way they do business – honest!

The Cool Stuff
Register your website.  This is easy.  www.godaddy.com is a great site (which recently announced their 50 millionth domain name).  Simply type in the name that you want.  It will search for it and let you know if it is available or not.  If it is available expect to pay around £7.59 a year for the privilege of owning this domain name.  Pay online and you are away. 

OK, so now you have your domain name.  You really need a website so you can tell the world about your new venture.  Look no further than www.weebly.com.  Weebly is a cracking ‘build your own website’ application that is so simple to use.  You need zero technical skills to build a professional looking website for your business – all of the clever stuff has been done for you including the hosting.  Check out www.silvertin.com to see what I mean (come on, I have to plug something of mine on this blog!). 

So that’s the website done and dusted.  OK, in time you might want to enhance the site with blogs and shopping carts but for now we have announed to the world that we are open for business.

Next you might want to get some business cards printed.  www.vistaprint.com offer loads of deals on business cards, letterheads, stationery etc..  The great feature here is that you design on-line, pay and 2-3 days later you receive a box of 250 professional looking business cards.   I remember getting 500 cards for just the cost of the postage and how proud great Aunty Doreen was when she realised that I was a ‘Director’. 

Until next time
Keep an eye out for my next blog where I will uncover some more great Apps to help get your new business going.  Must dash, Spandau Ballet have just announced their UK tour and I need to get hold of some tickets - “You’re indestructable, always believing!”.