Government agencies are increasingly turning to open source technologies in the wake of shrinking budgets and heightened cybersecurity concerns. EnterpriseDB, a leading distributor of PostgresSQL, is witnessing this trend firsthand.

The privately-held database vendor says that the number of government agencies that use its products increased by 40 percent in the past 12 months. The Department of Defense, the Federal Aviation Administration and NASA are among the more than 40 agencies that have deployed its software in their environments.

One of the main reasons that organizations are buying into EnterpriseDB’s PostgresSQL distribution is because it’s compatible with solutions from Oracle, which has historically dominated the government and defense sectors. Cost efficiency is another benefit: the firm boasts that its distribution has helped users reduce database license costs by as much as 80 percent.

“EnterpriseDB slashes costs and reduces the risks inherent in migrating to a new database, and our government customers need our partnership to ensure success,” EnterpriseDB president and CEO Ed Boyajian wrote in a statement. “In this time of fiscal budget crisis, government IT leaders are becoming heroes by moving from costly commercial databases to lower cost open source options without sacrificing on performance requirements. It just makes good sense for everyone.”

EnterpriseDB has hired veteran analyst Loren Osborn to lead its government group as it works towards establishing a bigger presence in the public sector. Osborn joined the company from Gartner, where he helped the U.S. Navy and other defense clients with “strategies, planning, execution and management of new technology projects.” Prior to his stint at the research firm, he directed enterprise software sales for Micro Focus, Centrifuge and other prominent vendors.