DBVu is a remote database monitoring service. Customers install a small piece of code on a public facing web server which can communicate with internal MySQL servers. DBVu will then poll the server (securely) and take regular snapshots of 500+ MySQL and server parameters.
DBVu will then analyse the stats and generate reports based on the state of the MySQL database and can show performance issues and how to rectify them. Major problems can be reported in real-time by SMS/Twitter/Email/etc. There will be reports suitable for both management and technical users, so management get an overview, while technical users can drill down to understand where the issues are in more detail.
DBVu will be based on a Fremium model, customers can simply sign-up and they'll get access to the code to install on their servers (it's the same code for all services) and they'll receive the full service for 30 days. After 30 days if the customer doesn't sign-up to the full (£60 pa) service, they'll still have access to the service, but it will be degraded (i.e. less frequent polls and less drill down information).
The next level up is DBVu Cluster which will monitor a master and up to 4 slaves (£240 pa) and customers will be able to see reports based on the cluster as well as individual servers.
DBVu Enterprise which will have a configuration dashboard will be offered later with variable pricing based on polling frequency, numbers of servers monitored etc.
In future new value add services will be introduced such as MySQL remote replication on DBVu servers and remote back-up.
The service is aimed at the SME market and web services market as many companies have developers who can set-up database servers, but don't know how to scale them etc. These companies are also unlikely to have a full-time database administrator so DBVu acts as this role.
There are commercial monitoring systems in the market already, but these tend to require installing on the actual database systems themselves which can be a complexity operation. Understanding the monitoring results is also complex and again usually requires someone with database administration skills. They also tend to be expensive (i.e. MySQL enterprise, which does provide monitoring and reporting tools costs in the order of $1000 per server).
Though DBVu does see MySQL Enterprise competition at the higher end, the main focus of DBVu is in the SME/Start-up arena where they can (or wont) pay $1000 per server per year. As the customer's database needs grow, DBVu will grow with them, but at some point they're likely to employ a DBA and use something like MySQL Enterprise (but that will take several years).
The reason why DBVu is different from the crowd is that Andrew Robinson has over 20 years experience working with databases in the financial world and then in the mobile and then web worlds. During this time, every database has required monitoring system which have been locally implemented. Andrew has the knowledge to implement this centrally in a scalable manner that is initially suitable for MySQL, but will have other clients for other databases such as Microsoft SQL, Postgres and even Oracle.
DBVu will be looking to launch into 'friendly' sites (private beta) in the next couple of months.