At the 2011 MySQL conference, Cloudera CEO Mike Olson discusses the past, present and future of MySQL and other database systems. The main systems in the database markets have developed in a patchwork formation, with problems irregularly and inefficiently repaired, particularly in MySQL. There are several other database systems, called 'NoSQL,' that are competing on the platform of being more efficient, simple, and flexible. Olson presents several challenges facing both the MySQL and NoSQL software, as well as several successes throughout the systems' history and current progress.

As software becomes exponentially more integral to business, a stable system capable of a variety of applications is necessary. With ideas such as 'big data' coming to the forefront of data management, as large volumes of data are gathered by business and systems, innovations in databases are a requirement, especially as data between people and machines, and even data between machines and machines, becomes as integral to business and technology as data between people and people. Olson observes that new data stores are necessary, and differentiation between programs will continue until key innovations in data management platforms become uniform.

Mike Olson notes some key areas that database developers must focus on in order to meet market demands, including stability, transactions, good API, ability to handle large volumes of data, and versatility within a variety of different applications and data uses. By noting central points of success and challenge within past and current database systems, Olson points to where successful databases will need to go in the future, and discusses a few of the databases that may become favorites in the next five years.