Pervasive Software began by buying a database from Novell. In April 1994 the new Austin company, then called Btrieve Technologies, acquired Btrieve, a compact database engine that shipped with Novell's NetWare. Thousands of business programs already used Btrieve to store their records, often without the end user ever knowing. When it went public in September 1997, Pervasive was selling the invisible part inside other companies' software.

Bought From Novell

The company was incorporated in January 1994 as Btrieve Technologies and renamed itself Pervasive Software in June 1996. Its engines, Btrieve and Scalable SQL, were made for software developers who wanted a reliable database that needed almost no upkeep at a customer's office. Much of its revenue came from upgrades sold into the NetWare installed base. The bet was that packaged business software would keep spreading, and that each copy would need an embedded database underneath.

Taken Private by Actian

Pervasive sold 4 million shares at $10 in September 1997, half of them from existing holders, and listed on Nasdaq as PVSW. NetWare lost ground to Windows NT, so the company added data integration tools and other products to keep growing. It stayed public for more than fifteen years. In 2013 Actian, a database company, bought Pervasive for $9.20 a share in cash and took it private.

Cover: Sudden Shower at Mimeguri Shrine, Torii Kiyonaga. Art Institute of Chicago, public domain. Chosen for a sudden rain shower (pervasive, everywhere at once).