Hannu Krosing was a PostgreSQL user before it was rewritten to use SQL as its main query language in 1995. So, he has both the historic perspective of its development and almost 20 years of experience using it for solving various real-life problems.Hannu was the first Database Administrator and Database Architect at Skype, where he invented the sharding language PL/Proxy that allows scaling the user database to work with billions of users.Since leaving Skype at the end of 2006 about a year after it was bought up by eBay—Hannu has been working as a PostgreSQL consultant with 2ndQuadrant, the premier PostgreSQL consultancy with global reach and local presence in most of the world.Hannu has co-authored another Packt Publishing book, PostgreSQL 9 Administration Cookbook, together with one of the main PostgreSQL developers, Simon Riggs.

Jim Mlodgenski is the CTO of OpenSCG, a professional services company focused on leveraging open source technologies for strategic advantage.He was formerly the CEO of StormDB, a database cloud company focused on horizontal scalability. Prior to StormDB, Jim held deeply technical roles at Cirrus Technology, Inc., EnterpriseDB, and Fusion Technologies.Jim is also a fervent advocate of PostgreSQL. He is a member of the board of the United States PostgreSQL Association, as well as being a part of the organizing teams of the New York PostgreSQL User Group and Philadelphia PostgreSQL User Groups.

Kirk Roybal has been active in the PostgreSQL community since 1998. He has helped to organize user groups in Houston, Dallas, and Bloomington, IL. He has mentored many junior database administrators and provided cross training for senior database engineers. He has provided solutions using PostgreSQL for reporting, business intelligence, data warehousing,applications, and development support.Kirk saw the value of PostgreSQL when the first small business customer asked for a web application. At the time, competitive database products were either extremely immature, or cost prohibitive. Kirk has stood by the choice of PostgreSQL for many years now. His expertise is founded on keeping up with features and capabilities as they have become available.