<< it may be worth considering and adjunct piece of software to Firebird, called "HqBird", which uses Firebird as its base database engine. "HqBird" was designed for Firebird databases that are by necessity very large and require more power and capabilities than the standard version may offer. A similar situation has arisen with the equally powerful PostgreSQL database engine where when extensive power is required, the EnterpriseDB database engine has been developed using PostgreSQL as a base. EnterpriseDB can now provide Oracle-like capabilities at a fraction of the cost>>

Nice analogy, but not entirely accurate...

Paul