This talk summarizes the findings of a study we made to find out which Database Management Systems (DBMS) are currently in use in South Tyrol. We developed a questionnaire in which we asked which DBMS are currently in use, which features are important, which are missing, how important the license is, and if there are plans to switch to another DBMS. We will present the answers of the 62 South Tyrolean companies that answered, showing which technologies will be relevant in the field of databases within this region in the future.

1. Database Technology
Landscape in South Tyrol
SFScon 2019 - 15 November 2019
Which Databases Are We Using In South Tyrol?
Anton Dignös, Marco Moraschini

2. Study preparation

3. Introduction and Motivation
Study commissioned by NOI AG in the frame of EFRE-FESR project DAVINCI
Main questions:
- Which DBMS are in use in South Tyrol
- Main reasons for using a DBMS (is Open Source a main reason?)
- Missing functionalities
- Future perspective
Obtain insights into the usage of DBMS
with respect to
products, types and licensing
Additional contributors: P. Ohnewein, L. Miotto, U. Seppi, J. Gamper, and A. Janes

4. Study Description
In numbers
- 155 companies and institutions in South Tyrol
- Own IT service dept.
- Provide IT services to others
- 2 Google Forms for two languages (IT, DE)
- 6 questions
- ~ 5 minutes answering time
- ~ 1 month time with 1 reminder
62 answers (40% response rate)
79% DE, 21% IT

5. Q0 - Company type
We were interested in framing the companies
in terms of size (SME)
*
- Micro, Small, Medium, Large
And sector
- Primary, Secondary, Tertiary
Respondents could provide either
name or # of employees, revenue and sector
* As defined by EU
Study Implementation - Company Info

6. Study Implementation - Part 1
Q1.1 - DBMS in use and main
reasons for the choice
- Usability
- Security
- Support
- Integration
- Scalability
- Cost
- Updates
Q1.2 - Departments where DBMS are
used
- Production
- R&D
- Purchase
- Marketing
- HR
- Accounting and Finance
Q1.3 - Missing functionalities

7. Study Implementation - Part 2
Q2.1 - Is the licence model important?
- Open Source is important
- Closed Source is important
- Irrelevant
Why?
Q2.2 - Likelihood of changing DBMS in
the future?
- Scale 0 … 5
When? Why? Which system?
Q2.3 - Other areas where you use
Open Source programs
- Operating Systems
- Browsers
- Office software
- Images/ multimedia
- Software Development

8. Study results

9. Outline
1. Current database systems in use
2. Reasons for the chosen database systems
3. Attitude w.r.t. Open Source database systems
4. Future outlook

10. Database Systems used in South Tyrol
What are the database systems that are currently used?
How does it differ for companies of different size?

11. Database Systems used in South Tyrol
Top-4 match global popularity (in slightly different order)

12. Database Systems used in South Tyrol
“Large” → MS SQL Server / Oracle
“Small” → PostgreSQL / MySQL

14. New generation systems
~20% of systems in use
~35% of companies use it

15. Reasons for the Chosen Database Systems
What are the influence factors for the choice?
Is Open Source a main influence factor?

16. Reasons for the Chosen Database Systems
Cost efficiency is most important!

17. Reasons for the Chosen Database Systems
Functionality is considered most important!
If OS important: company philosophy, fear vendor lock-in
If CS important: professional support, continuity guarantee

18. Open Source Database Systems in South Tyrol
7 out of top-10 database systems are Open Source
32% of companies use Open Source Systems only
49% use mixed systems

19. PostgreSQL
MySQL
MariaDB
SQLite

20. Look to the Future
PostgreSQL seems to become most popular system!

21. Thanks! / Danke! / Grazie!