NAVER, Korea’s largest internet search company, is a benchmark for streamlining database infrastructure management, reducing costs, and simplifying compliance with MySQL Enterprise Edition.
Introduction & Background
Naver (Hangul: 네이버) is a South Korean online platform operated by the Naver Corporation. It was launched in 1999 as the first web portal in South Korea to develop and use its own search engine. It was also the world's first operator to introduce the comprehensive search feature, which compiles search results from various categories and presents them in a single page. Naver has since added a multitude of new services ranging from basic features such as e-mail and news to the world's first online Q&A platform Knowledge iN.
Founded in 1999, the company has experienced rapid growth, both organically and through strategic acquisition, while continuing to focus on sustained research and development in the fields of AI, robotics, mobility, and other future technology trends. NAVER has been ranked as the 9th most innovative company by Forbes and the 6th top Future 50 company by Fortune magazine.
Business Challenges & Goals
NAVER has been a long-term user of MySQL Enterprise Edition. However, each subsidiary was traditionally in charge of its own database systems and licenses, which made it difficult for the corporation to manage them efficiently.
The lack of centralized management was also hindering the company’s ability to monitor database performance and to maintain consistency across different database systems. This resulted in slower response times, higher maintenance costs, and an overall reduction in productivity.
NAVER needed a more efficient and centralized database management solution that could help streamline its database infrastructure, reduce operational costs, simplify compliance, and improve the performance of its business-critical applications.
The company was also looking to enhance the scalability of its database landscape to provide more flexibility for future growth across its diverse businesses.
Business Results & Metrics
NAVER reduced operational costs and simplified the management of its MySQL database infrastructure by upgrading to MySQL 8.0 Enterprise Edition and consolidating multiple MySQL Enterprise Edition licenses into a single Universal License Agreement (ULA) covering 10 subsidiaries.
The South Korean internet conglomerate achieved considerable cost savings by not needing individual licenses for each business entity. They used MySQL Enterprise Monitor to provide a single management viewpoint across all database instances, including those from overseas affiliates.
By upgrading to MySQL 8.0 Enterprise Edition—and leveraging advanced features including Partitioning and Replication—NAVER substantially increased database performance and scalability. These are vital components for a growing ICT company whose search portal and other online services need to be fully operational around the clock.
“We have a complex and demanding environment with database sizes ranging from hundreds of gigabytes to several terabytes, so performance is critical. MySQL Enterprise Edition gives us the power our service needs to comfortably handle more than 100,000 read transactions per second,” said Byungjoon Kim, Data Platform DB Operation Leader, Naver Co., Ltd.
Using MySQL Enterprise Backup, NAVER improved the efficiency and reliability of its backup processes, including the use of hot backups, while also gaining the flexibility to adapt their backup strategy to the conglomerate's growing and rapidly changing database landscape.
With Oracle’s Universal Licensing Agreement (ULA), NAVER has been able to streamline software development on a more stable and reliable platform. Development teams can now easily scale their software without worrying about additional licensing costs.
The company’s developers have further improved the performance of their database applications by using MySQL Query Analyzer to monitor query performance. With more agile development processes, NAVER can ensure a rapid time-to-market, reinforcing its position as a market innovator.
The ULA also enabled NAVER to simplify regulatory compliance and minimize issues associated with intellectual property, as it is now able to use MySQL with no limits on the number of users or servers during the contractual period. The advanced security features of MySQL Enterprise Edition have also helped ensure the company's compliance with stringent communications industry regulations.
Naver has ensured the smooth running of its production environment by leveraging expert 24/7 support from Oracle and MySQL Support teams. “The technical support has been amazing, and we have been particularly impressed with the speed and efficiency of patches released following our bug report submissions. It is extremely reassuring to know that the MySQL Technology team is highly responsive and always provides quick and reliable support,” said Byungjoon Kim.
Why MySQL Enterprise Edition?
For many years, MySQL Enterprise Edition has been Naver's preferred database for meeting the needs of its developers, operations teams, and business units. Among the key reasons have been its high-performance capabilities, low cost, and ease of use.
Naver upgraded to MySQL 8.0 Enterprise Edition and consolidated its database operations as well as improve database stability for both development and operations purposes. With the MySQL Universal Licensing Agreement, it was able to streamline IT management operations, and reduce the cost and complexity of managing licenses across multiple business units.