The U.S. General Services Administration gave MySQL AB’s open source database a stamp of approval by awarding a five-year contract that makes it easy for government customers to buy MySQL products, the company said Monday.
MySQL was added to the products and services available to government customers from Carahsoft Technology Corp., a government IT provider based in Reston, Virginia. The addition of the MySQL products is effective through Nov. 19, 2009.
MySQL is already used by U.S. government agencies including Los Alamos National Labs, U.S. Census Bureau, U.S. Geological Survey, NASA and the Department of Defense.
Some governments around the world have been turning to open-source software as a way to reduce costs. China has been particularly aggressive in using open source software, partly to reduce its dependency on products from U.S. vendors.
MySQL database products have been added to a list of products available to U.S. government agencies.