Sybase

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Sybase Inc.
Type Public NYSE: SY
Founded Berkeley, California (1984)
Headquarters Dublin, California
Key people John S. Chen; CEO, President
Industry Computer software
Products List of Sybase products
Revenue ▲ $1.14 billion (2008)
Employees 3,996 (2008)[1]
Website www.sybase.com
Sybase headquarters in Dublin, California; Located 1/4 Mile away from Oracle's PeopleSoft Headquarters in Pleasanton, California, The company's largest competitor.

Sybase Inc. (NYSE: SY) is an enterprise software and services company.

Contents

[edit] History

Sybase became the number two database system behind Oracle, after making a deal with Microsoft to share the source code for Microsoft to remarket on the OS/2 platform as "SQL Server". At the time, Sybase called the database server "Sybase SQL Server". Until version 4.9, Sybase and Microsoft SQL server were virtually identical. Due to disagreements between the two companies over revenue sharing (or lack thereof), Sybase and Microsoft decided to split the code-lines and went their own way, although the shared heritage is very evident in the Transact-SQL (T-SQL) procedural language as well as the basic process architecture. The big difference is that Sybase has a Unix heritage, while Microsoft SQL Server was adapted and optimized only for the Microsoft Windows NT operating system. Sybase continues to offer versions for Windows, several varieties of Unix, and for Linux.

Sybase suffered a major downturn in fortune in the late 1990s when Informix started outselling it by a wide margin. However, Informix was later acquired by IBM in 2001, and no longer competed as an independent company. In November 2005, a book written by a long time Informix employee was released that chronicled the battle between Sybase and Informix.[2]

As of 2006, Oracle is the leader in the database market share by revenue, followed by IBM, and then Microsoft SQL Server.[3][4] Sybase is well behind its major competitors in the enterprise database market, with 3% market share.[4][5]. Investment banking is one of Sybase's largest client bases, where optimized installations of ASE and tuned procedures still provide the biggest bang for the footprint.

Sybase returned to profitability under the management of John Chen in 2000, has maintained profitability since then and continues to reinvent itself with a new 'Unwired Enterprise' strategy. The 'Unwired Enterprise' vision is about allowing companies to deliver data to mobile devices in the field as well as traditional desktops, and combines technology from Sybase's existing data management products with its new mobility products. Sybase has expanded into the mobile and wireless space through buyouts of smaller networking and wireless companies, such as AvantGo, and expansion into the Asian market, specifically China. Through its mobility subsidiary, launched in 2000, Sybase iAnywhere, Sybase has become the leader of the mobile database market with SQL Anywhere.

Sybase makes a number of other data management products including Sybase IQ, a data warehouse system, Powerbuilder, a client-server and n-tier application development system, m-Business Server, a mobile applications system based on the AvantGo service, and Replication Server, a vendor-neutral data movement system. Sybase has a strong presence in the health care and financial markets.

[edit] Timeline

  • 1965: The WATFOR FORTRAN compiler was initially developed for the IBM 7040 at the University of Waterloo, Canada.
  • 1981: The company Watcom was founded by Mr. Ian McPhee.
  • 1984: Sybase (initially called Systemware) founded by Mark Hoffman, Bob Epstein, and Jane Doughty out of Epstein's home in California.
  • 1984: For a few months, Sybase (still called Systemware) shares a suite of offices with Cimtec, Inc., in Berkeley, California.
  • 1988: Sybase goes into partnership with Microsoft to port SQL Server to Windows and OS/2
  • 1988: The PACEBase SQL Database System was released as part of the Watcom Information Workbench.
  • August 1991: Sybase goes public at a split adjusted price of $6.75.
  • 1992: Watcom SQL3 became commercially available.
  • 1993: Sybase and Microsoft dissolved their partnership. Microsoft bought the Windows code base from Sybase.
  • 1994: Powersoft bought Watcom.
  • November 14, 1994: Sybase acquires Powersoft.
  • 1995: Renames the main product SQL Server to its current name Adaptive Server Enterprise (ASE) for version 11.5.
  • 1995: SQL Anywhere 5 was released. In included SQL Remote, SQL Central, Transact SQL syntax, and support for the Sybase Replication Server.
  • July 1996: Mark Hoffman steps down as CEO due to disappointing earnings and Sybase appoints Mitchell Kertzman as CEO
  • October 1998: John Chen appointed Chairman, President, and CEO.
  • 1998: SQL Anywhere 6 released, with new names "Adaptive Server Anywhere" as the engine and part of the "SQL Anywhere Studio" which now included SQL Modeler (later PowerDesigner), Java introduced to the database.
  • 2000: IAnywhere Solutions, Inc was founded as a subsidiary of Sybase.
  • June 20, 2001: Sybase acquires New Era of Networks.
  • February 28, 2003: Sybase acquires AvantGo.
  • September 12, 2005: Sybase releases ASE 15.0.
  • August 7, 2006: iAnywhere announces release of SQL Anywhere 10
  • November 8, 2006: Sybase completes the purchase of Mobile 365[6]
  • February, 2008: Sybase releases Adaptive Server Enterprise, Cluster Edition, with Oracle RAC-like shared-everything clusterability.
  • October 2008: Sybase Canada Limited is recognized as one of Waterloo Area's Top Employers, as announced in the Waterloo Region Record, Guelph Mercury and Cambridge Times.[7]
  • January 21, 2009: Sybase acquires mPayment solutions provider paybox[8]

[edit] Products

Sybase's main products include:

[edit] Subsidiaries

[edit] User groups

There are many Sybase-centric user groups around the world. The International Sybase User Group (ISUG), with members in more than 60 countries, acts as an umbrella organization for these groups, providing logistical support for user group meetings and other events.

[edit] Spatial Implementation

Sybase Inc. is partnered with The Boeing Company who develops and licenses Spatial Query Server for Sybase. Spatial Query Server spatially enables a Sybase ASE Database.

[edit] References

  1. ^ "Company Profile for Sybase Inc (SY)". http://zenobank.com/index.php?symbol=SY&page=quotesearch. Retrieved 2008-10-06. 
  2. ^ Martin, Steve W. (January 15, 2005). The Real Story of Informix Software and Phil White: Lessons in Business and Leadership for the Executive Team. Sand Hill Publishing. ISBN 978-0972182225. 
  3. ^ Chapple, Mike (August 10, 2003). "IDC Releases Database Market Share Study". About.com. http://databases.about.com/b/a/016881.htm. Retrieved 2007-08-07. "IDC recently released a new database market share study showing that Oracle databases currently hold 39.4% of the database market, followed by a 33.6% share for IBM's DB2 and an 11.1% share for Microsoft's SQL Server." 
  4. ^ a b Pettey, Christy (June 18, 2007). "Gartner Says Worldwide Relational Database Market Increased 14 Percent in 2006". Gartner. http://www.gartner.com/it/page.jsp?id=507466. Retrieved 2007-08-07. "The overall RDBMS market continued to be dominated by the top-tier vendors, as the top three vendors (Oracle, IBM, and Microsoft)" 
  5. ^ Babcock, Charles (March 14, 2005). "Oracle And Microsoft Gain In Database Market". InformationWeek. http://www.informationweek.com/showArticle.jhtml?articleID=159401656. "Top five market-share holders in 2004 graph: Oracle 41%, IBM 31%, Microsoft 13%, Other 9%, Sybase 3%" 
  6. ^ Sybase Completes Acquisition of Mobile 365[1]
  7. ^ "Reasons for Selection, 2009 Waterloo Area's Top Employers Competition". http://www.eluta.ca/top-employer-sybase-ianywhere. 
  8. ^ Sybase acquires mPayment solutions provider paybox[2]

[edit] External links

Retrieved from "http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sybase"