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Provides open-source and commercial RDBMS software and support services for enterprise database management on Linux and Windows.
Key people at Ingres Corp..
Ingres Corp. provides open-source and commercial relational database management system (RDBMS) software and support services, maintaining one of the earliest RDBMS platforms that significantly influenced major databases like Sybase and Microsoft SQL Server. Operating a Red Hat-like open-source business model, the company offers database products, connectivity solutions, and professional services. The original Ingres project was founded by Michael Stonebraker and Eugene Wong in the early 1970s, with Ingres Corp. formally established in November 2005 by Garnett & Helfrich Capital in partnership with Computer Associates (CA). Terry Garnett, managing director of Garnett & Helfrich, served as interim CEO and chairman, overseeing a company that, in 1985, was approximately $30 million in size, similar to early-stage competitor Oracle. Ingres Corporation was later renamed Actian Corporation in 2011, continuing to support its classic DBMS.
Key people at Ingres Corp..
Ingres Corporation was a pioneering software company that commercialized one of the first relational database management systems (RDBMS), known as Ingres, developed from a 1970s research project at UC Berkeley.[1][3][4] It built and sold an enterprise-grade RDBMS primarily for online transaction processing (OLTP) tasks, with later versions adding columnar storage for online analytical processing (OLAP), serving businesses needing robust data management in the emerging relational database market.[1] The product solved the problem of structured data storage and querying using relational models, competing directly with Oracle in the 1980s but ultimately losing market share due to slower adoption of SQL and weaker marketing.[1][2] Ingres achieved early success as a market leader alongside Oracle but was acquired multiple times, renamed Actian Corporation in 2011, and now persists as the closed-source Actian X Hybrid Database with ongoing support.[1][2]
Ingres originated as a research project at the University of California, Berkeley, in 1973, when professors Michael Stonebraker and Eugene Wong were inspired by IBM's System R papers to build their own relational DBMS prototype, initially called INGRES.[1][4] Stonebraker, a key figure in database research, founded Relational Technology, Inc. (RTI)—later Ingres Corporation—in 1980 as a venture-backed company to commercialize the technology, involving Berkeley leaders like Stonebraker, Wong, Larry Rowe, and others from software and academia.[1][2][3][5] Early traction came from competing head-to-head with Oracle in the mid-1980s, both reaching about $30M in revenue by 1985, but Ingres used its own QUEL query language instead of SQL, delaying adaptation and costing customers.[1][2] Pivotal moments included a three-year transition to SQL support and serving as foundational code for systems like Microsoft SQL Server and Postgres, though the company itself faced acquisitions: bought by ASK in 1990, then Computer Associates in 1994, and spun out before rebranding to Actian in 2011.[1][2]
Ingres rode the relational database revolution of the 1970s-1980s, proving academic concepts like Codd's relational model could scale commercially and sparking the multibillion-dollar DBMS industry.[1][4] Its timing was ideal amid mainframe-to-client-server shifts, but market forces like SQL standardization and Oracle's superior sales execution favored competitors, reducing Ingres to niche status.[1][2] It profoundly influenced the ecosystem by open-sourcing code that seeded Postgres and informed SQL Server, democratizing relational tech and enabling modern cloud databases, while Actian's stewardship keeps hybrid relational systems relevant for legacy enterprise migrations.[1]
Ingres' legacy as a database trailblazer endures through Actian X, likely focusing on hybrid analytics enhancements amid rising demand for multi-model data platforms in AI-driven enterprises. Trends like database modernization and edge computing could revive interest in its OLTP/OLAP strengths, potentially expanding via Actian's ecosystem. Its influence may evolve from direct competitor to foundational ancestor, powering indirect growth in open-source and cloud-native databases—echoing how it once challenged Oracle but reshaped the field forever.[1][2]
