MySQL veterans either disaffected or dismissed by Oracle are starting a new company called SkySQL that will offer "enterprise-class support and services for the MySQL ecosystem."

The outfit is being pulled together by former MySQL SVP of global services Ulf Sandberg and its one-paragraph web site, dominated by a picture of a dolphin, says that whoever else is there - without saying who exactly - are former MySQL employees. However, SkySQL is hiring in "all areas, including support, consulting, training, marketing and sales."

Being detail-free left room for MySQL founder Monty Widenius, who's formally objecting to the Oracle-Sun acquisition now, to position SkySQL as an alternative to Oracle-Sun, which he evidently blames for running off the old MySQL home team.

"During the last two years," he wrote on his blog, "I have seen a lot of the people that originally worked at MySQL AB and who joined Sun together with me, go away in different directions. More than 50% of them have already left Sun/Oracle. Even if many of them are still working with something that is related to MySQL, others have started new careers doing something completely different.

"I have done my best to keep the MySQL core development talent together by employing them at Monty Program Ab, working on MariaDB [the MySQL fork], but I have not been able to provide a good home for the very talented support, training, consulting and sales people from MySQL AB, who I also care a lot for.

"I am happy to see that there is now another home for MySQL talent being formed where they can continue to do what they do best; Providing support and other services around MySQL and also MariaDB."

Although Widenius says he and his new start-up Monty Program Ab have no active role in SkySQL he does see them sharing what's left of the MySQL patrimony.

"The forming of SkySQL is also in line with Monty Programs Ab's strategy," he says. "We see ourselves as the technical experts when it comes to MySQL and MariaDB and want to focus on doing development of MariaDB and L3 (critical) bug fixes for MariaDB and MySQL for our customers and partners....SkySQL will become a partner for Monty Program Ab, among others, and we will continue with our partnerships with our existing partners as before. By having a lot of independent companies working tightly together we will be stronger than ever before. We will of course have new interesting challenges, but I believe these will be easy to solve as all the companies have the same goal: Give the best possible services to our customers and to keep MySQL and its future incarnations, like MariaDB, alive."

Prior to MySQL, Sandberg was vice-president of professional services at Finaplex, an enterprise software company in the global financial services market, and before that, VP, field services, at Marimba.