Sun Microsystems (News - Alert) has introduced MySQL Workbench, a new visual database design tool that integrates data modeling, physical database design, database creation, change management and documentation capabilities into a single, seamless environment for MySQL developers and DBAs.

 

MySQL Workbench is available for download in two versions: an open source Community Edition and a $99 commercial Standard Edition. Both are available now for Microsoft (News - Alert) Windows, with future cross-platform support for Linux and Macintosh OS X under development.

 

"We are very happy to deliver a powerful open source database design tool for the MySQL ecosystem," said Michael G. Zinner, Sun's team lead for database developer tools and the original developer of the popular DBDesigner4 open source software project. "The two editions are designed to meet the needs of the do-it-yourself community developer, while providing a very affordable and compelling commercial product for the corporate database professional."

 

The MySQL Workbench Community Edition is freely available for download under the open source GPL license. This full-featured tool offers a base framework for data modeling and physical database design.

 

The MySQL Workbench Standard Edition is a commercial extension to the community edition that adds specialized plug-in modules that can boost productivity and save time. These include reverse- and forward-engineering capabilities, synchronization to and from live databases, HTML and text-based documentation, built-in validation of models and security management for modeled objects.

 

MySQL Workbench SE has already won quite a few admirers: "MySQL Workbench SE has allowed our team to improve productivity and deliver products on time and within budget,” said Jamie Schultz, vice president of Operations B Three Solutions, Inc. “The tool is very intuitive and we find our new staff can ramp up quickly. This tool has significantly reduced the task-time of our data modeling, leaving more time to concentrate on quality. It also helps eliminate defects early in our development phase."