Sweden’s largest gasoline chain rolls out MySQL-based payment system

come from: http://www.mysql.com/news-and-events/news/article_1243.html

Uppsala, Sweden -– January 24, 2007 -- MySQL AB, the developer of the world’s most popular open source database, today announced that OKQ8, Sweden’s largest gasoline vendor, will roll out a MySQL-based payment authorization and collection system during the first part of 2007.

OKQ8 was having problems with its previous payment system built in the 1980s, mainly concerning lack of support. A number of available standard “off-the-shelf” systems were evaluated, but OKQ8 decided to customize a solution based upon the Linux operating system and MySQL database. After a year of testing and adjustments, the new system will be rolled out in early 2007 for all 1,000 gasoline stations in the chain.

“The handling of transactions in our gas stations is extremely business critical,” said Peter Schmidt, CIO at OKQ8. “At the same time, margins in selling gasoline are low. Our new MySQL-based system significantly increases speed and stability while reducing costs by the millions compared to the old system. We save money both on software licenses and hardware costs since we can deploy standard Dell servers and count on the investment being written off in just a few years.”

The new payment system handles all steps from single transactions at the pumps to backoffice reports and accounting. It also keeps track of gasoline levels in the tanks at each station. Filling the tanks is a very expensive procedure and much can be saved by filling them just before they become empty.

“We found MySQL to be very well suited for our business,” said Schmidt. “At first, we had some concerns over availability of professional services for open source products --but we soon found out that MySQL AB offers excellent support for their MySQL Enterprise package. Also, we won’t have a problem hiring competent people in the open source sphere to further develop the solution.”

The system at OKQ8 is fully redundant, using load balancing and geographically separated servers for high availability.

“It’s great validation for open source software that such a well-known company like OKQ8 has chosen MySQL for this type of critical business application,” said Richard Mason, vice president EMEA for MySQL AB. “Several multi-national retailers have implemented MySQL-based payment systems throughout Europe during the past year. These companies have selected MySQL for its unique combination of high-performance, high-availability, small foot-print and low cost of maintenance.”
About MySQL

MySQL AB develops and supports a family of high-performance, affordable database products. The company’s flagship offering is ‘MySQL Enterprise’, a comprehensive set of production-tested software, proactive monitoring tools, and premium support services. MySQL is the world's most popular open source database software, with over 10 million active installations. Many of the world's largest and fastest-growing organizations use MySQL to save time and money powering their high-volume Web sites, business-critical systems and packaged software -- including industry leaders such as Yahoo!, Alcatel, The Associated Press, Suzuki and NASA.

With headquarters in the United States and Sweden -- and operations around the world -- MySQL AB supports both open source values and corporate customers' needs in a profitable, sustainable business. For more information about MySQL, please visit www.mysql.com.

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