db4objects expands board, investors

Open-source embedded database company db4objects said that Jerry Fiddler, the former CEO of embedded operating system company Wind River, has joined db4objects' board and invested in the company.

db4objects builds and provides support for db4o, an object database used primarily for embedded applications written with Java or Microsoft's .Net tools. The database is available under the GPL open-source license or a commercial license.

"db4objects represents an exciting new way to create an enterprise," Fiddler said in a statement, "efficient, sleek, and brilliantly leveraging modern technology and on-line community."

In addition to joining the board, Fiddler participated in the db4object's series B financing earlier this year--a model the company favors instead of taking on venture capital investment.

Other backers include investor Vinod Khosla, Opsware CTO Tim Howes, and Tim O'Reilly of O'Reilly Media.

"We do not seek institutional venture capital," said db4objects' chairman Mark Leslie (who was founding CEO of Veritas). "Over the past eighteen months we have demonstrated that we can make great progress under a low cost structure and did not want to get on the 'funding treadmill'."