SAP Buys Sybase for Greater Mobility

Going mobile is the future, and both SAP and Sybase — the company that SAP recently acquired — know it.

Sybase's mobile technology will act as the front end to the new platform and connect to SAP's database on the back end, said John Chen, chairman and president of Sybase. An SDK is also coming down the pike, so developers can start building applications for the mobile platform to tap into the SAP backend, he added.

At the press conference, the executives discussed several ways that the platform could be used. From Frankfurt, SAP co-CEO Jim Hagemann Snabe said bank executives could use the software to analyze real-time data to make key decisions and act on how they could change the way business is done. He added that the Business Objects real-time analytics would be delivered by NetWeaver, but leveraged with SAP's in-memory technology.

He added that the platform could also be used as a means for applications to reach a mobile workforce and bring "their job to their device," and "the platform can reach our customers' customers"-that is, the consumer.

SAP demonstrated how a coupon code could be sent to consumers' mobile devices, registered and used. All the while, the mobile platform talked to the back end and collected data based on the consumer's transactions, which ultimately can help an enterprise learn, "What type of consumer do I have here?" Snabe said.

"Mobile is the new desktop," said SAP co-CEO Bill McDermott, adding that the emphasis is about taking the virtual boardroom concept and integrating business processes onto a mobile device.

The executives also discussed future roadmaps in business analytics. A combination of complementary technologies from SAP's BusinessObjects portfolio and Sybase now offer a complete business analytics infrastructure. The BusinessObjects business intelligence solutions are already certified on Sybase IQ 15.0 and Sybase Adaptive Server Enterprise 15.0.

The companies said that when it comes to enterprise information management, the combination of SAP and Sybase EIM solutions offers data integration and data quality, master data management and complex event processing. Sybase's ASE database engine supports transactional and mixed workloads and will be fully supported by the combined companies, according a company statement. SAP will also port, certify and optimize its Business Suite, NetWeaver Business Warehouse component, BusinessObjects Data Services software and BusinessObjects BI solutions to Sybase ASE.

According to the SAP co-CEOs, Sybase will continue to run as a separate entity under Chen's leadership as chairman and president. SAP will also continue Sybase's product portfolio. SAP's and Sybase's sales teams will operate separately, and both companies will sell the mobile platform and applications jointly developed on the platform.

"This is a growth story for SAP and Sybase to jointly share [intellectual property]," McDermott said.

SAP acquired Sybase on May 12 for US$5.8 billion in cash.

Source: SD Times