Spinnaker Support is expanding its enterprise technology portfolio with new PostgreSQL support and migration services, positioning the open-source database as a potential modernization path for organizations looking to reduce their reliance on proprietary Oracle database environments.
The move extends Spinnaker’s existing third-party support model beyond Oracle, SAP, JD Edwards and VMware and into an area receiving growing enterprise attention. Rather than framing PostgreSQL migration as an immediate replacement exercise, the company is taking a workload-by-workload approach: supporting existing Oracle environments while helping customers determine which databases are suitable for migration and then providing ongoing support for the resulting PostgreSQL estate.
That distinction is significant for enterprises running business-critical applications. Database modernization is rarely a simple technology substitution. Application dependencies, compatibility, security, performance requirements and operational risk can make large-scale migrations difficult to execute as a single transformation program.
A Gradual Path From Oracle to PostgreSQL
Spinnaker’s strategy is built around allowing enterprises to maintain their current Oracle environments while evaluating where PostgreSQL makes operational and financial sense.
The company has introduced two primary offerings. Enterprise Software Support for PostgreSQL provides 24Ă—7 support for standard PostgreSQL and vetted open-source components across on-premises, virtualized, containerized and cloud environments. Services include troubleshooting, security guidance, configuration and performance support, and lifecycle guidance.
Its second offering, Assessment and Migration Services for PostgreSQL, focuses on evaluating Oracle workloads and dependencies before migration. The service is powered by HexaCluster and its HexaRocket migration, replication and data movement technology, which Spinnaker says will support conversion, production-readiness validation and controlled cutovers.
The broader objective is to create continuity between the database environment an organization operates today and the environment it may choose to run in the future.
“Organizations want greater flexibility as they modernize their database environments, but they should not have to sacrifice enterprise-grade assurance or trade one proprietary dependency for another,” said Matt Stava, CEO of Spinnaker Support.
According to Stava, the PostgreSQL expansion is also part of Spinnaker’s OpenPath framework, which is intended to support customers across existing technology estates, modernization programs and emerging AI workloads.
Why PostgreSQL Is Entering More Enterprise Modernization Conversations
The announcement comes as PostgreSQL continues to gain broad developer adoption. Spinnaker points to the 2025 Stack Overflow Developer Survey, in which 55.6% of respondents reported using PostgreSQL.
For enterprise technology leaders, however, popularity alone is not enough to determine whether a database should become part of a modernization strategy.
Moving an established Oracle workload can involve dependencies accumulated over years of development and customization. The business case therefore depends not only on licensing or support economics, but also on workload suitability, migration complexity, application compatibility, operational capabilities and the organization’s appetite for change.
Spinnaker’s workload-by-workload model reflects that reality. Instead of requiring an organization to make a wholesale database decision at the beginning of the process, the approach is designed to identify which workloads can reasonably move and which should remain where they are.
This could be particularly relevant for enterprises seeking to lower proprietary database dependency without forcing simultaneous changes across business-critical systems.
Avoiding a New Form of Database Lock-In
One of the more strategically significant elements of the announcement is Spinnaker’s emphasis on standard PostgreSQL rather than a proprietary PostgreSQL derivative.
The company is also developing its own enterprise distribution for PostgreSQL. It is not yet generally available, but Spinnaker says it will be based around standard PostgreSQL and vetted open-source components, with the goal of providing a more curated enterprise environment while preserving portability and architectural control.
That positioning addresses an increasingly important question in enterprise open-source adoption: whether moving away from one proprietary platform simply creates a different dependency elsewhere.
Spinnaker says its model is intended to allow organizations to retain greater control over their database architecture without relying on proprietary forks or closed compatibility layers.
Martin Biggs, recently promoted to Vice President and General Manager of Spinnaker’s PostgreSQL Practice, said the demand the company is seeing is not simply for an alternative database, but for a controlled path toward it.
“In conversations with some of the world’s largest and most complex Oracle database users, we continue to hear the same thing: organizations want the freedom, control, and modernization potential of Postgres, but they need a partner that can help them move responsibly,” Biggs said.
Database Modernization Is Becoming an ERP Strategy Issue
For ERP and enterprise application teams, the significance of the announcement extends beyond database administration.
Many organizations have spent years building ERP environments around established database architectures. Decisions about changing those underlying platforms therefore have implications for application support, integrations, customizations, security, performance and future cloud strategies.
This is particularly important when organizations are simultaneously evaluating ERP modernization and AI initiatives. Database decisions made primarily around short-term cost reduction can create longer-term architectural consequences if portability, support models and application dependencies are not considered at the same time.
Spinnaker’s approach also illustrates a broader shift in the third-party support market. Independent support is increasingly being positioned not only as a way to extend the useful life of existing enterprise software, but as a bridge between legacy environments and selective modernization.
The company is applying the same Run, Optimize, Transform structure used across its Oracle, SAP, JD Edwards and VMware services to PostgreSQL. In practice, that means maintaining current systems where necessary, optimizing them where appropriate and migrating workloads when there is a clear reason to do so.
From Cost Pressure to Architectural Choice
The growing enterprise interest in PostgreSQL is unlikely to make proprietary databases disappear from complex IT estates. For many organizations, the more realistic future is a heterogeneous environment in which different databases continue to support different workloads.
That makes the ability to determine what should move, when it should move and what should remain in place increasingly important.
Spinnaker Support’s PostgreSQL expansion is built around that middle ground. By combining support for existing Oracle environments with migration assessment and ongoing PostgreSQL support, the company is positioning database modernization as a staged architectural decision rather than a single migration event.
For enterprise technology leaders, that may ultimately be the more consequential part of the announcement. As organizations seek greater control over infrastructure costs and prepare their application estates for cloud and AI-driven workloads, database strategy is becoming another area where flexibility and freedom of choice have to be balanced against the operational realities of mission-critical systems.
ERP News Editorial Team
The ERPNews Editorial Team covers global developments in ERP (Enterprise Resource Planning), enterprise software, cloud platforms, AI, automation, and digital transformation, providing independent news and editorial analysis for senior business and technology leaders. Our reporting focuses on market signals, strategic shifts, and enterprise impact across the ERP and enterprise technology ecosystem.
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