MySQL is gambling that the company will expand with a new generation of Internet companiesincluding Facebook, a social networking companybuilding their business around MySQL 5.0. Marten Mickos, CEO of MySQL, says he was not convinced in 1995, when he was head of database company Solid Information Technology, that the launch of MySQL would be successful, but in two years he had to admit that MySQL was getting a foothold in the business. When Mr. Mickos joined MySQL, said Michael Widenius, MySQL co-founder with David Axmark, he brought a much-needed strategic business focus to MySQL. The company was already growing strongly when Mr. Mickos came on board, but was selling products in a disorganized way over the Internet. Under Mr. Mickos leadership, MySQL began using formal agreements with open source contributors and also started recruitment of a professional sales team. Mr. Mickos adept commercial sense is helping keep MySQL, which is now based in California, ahead of Ingres and PostgreSQL. The overall open source database market is about $350 million (including licenses, services, and support) says Forrester, and MySQL, based on numbers from Forrester, is about 60 percent of the market. Revenues projected for 2006 are $45 million from the MySQL database and another $165 million from consultants and services that install MySQL products and provide tuning, migrations, administration, and upgrades.