Sybase announced a partnership with Siemens Enterprise Communications Group on Sept.
22, with the aim of providing an enterprise platform that integrates both mobile
and fixed-line voice and data, and allows for the management of various mobile
devices across a completely heterogeneous environment.
Specifically, the platform will
blend Sybase’s mobile-device management capability with Siemens’ Fixed Mobile
Convergence (FMC) technology in order to
simplify the logistics and management of a diversified communications
infrastructure. Sybase Afaria, a scalable solution that allows IT to control key
mobility-related functions via a Web-based console, allows governance over
management and security of any network mobile device in any location.
Afaria has been combined with
Siemens’ HiPath MobileConnect v2.3, which unifies enterprise VOIP, VoWLAN and
cellular mobility. The latter platform consists of MobileConnect Appliance,
which monitors and manages mobile user sessions, and MobileConnect Client,
software that works with the MobileConnect Appliance to navigate
enterprise-cellular exchange.
With the partnership enacted
within an enterprise, administrators can impose functionality such as noting
which calls streaming into a user’s mobile device are personal or business,
allowing for more granular analysis of phone usage.
"Enterprise
mobility plays such a significant role in today’s personal and
professional
environments that customers require the highest level of support from
proven
experts," Terry Stepien, president of Sybase iAnywhere, said in a
statement. "As part of this widespread adoption and to fully empower
today’s information
workers, Sybase and Siemens are committed to helping enterprises
overcome the
management challenges accompanying rapidly emerging mobile
technologies,
including collaboration and unified communications."
Sybase has signed other
partnerships in 2009, including
one to port the SAP Business Suite onto the Apple iPhone, Microsoft Windows
Mobile, BlackBerry smartphones, and other devices via integration with the
Sybase mobile enterprise application platform.
That partnership was not
exclusive, leaving Sybase open to explore deals with other software- and
middleware-producing entities.
Although Sybase already has an
inroad with the enterprise thanks to a partnership with Research In Motion,
creators of the BlackBerry line, they have also positioned themselves to take
advantage of the Apple iPhone’s increased business prevalence. The Sybase
iAnywhere Mobile Office application allows wireless email, calendar contacts and
task information to be accessed securely via the iPhone, as well as Windows
Mobile and Symbian-based devices.
That platform includes the
iAnywhere Mobile Office server, available through the App Store at a starting
price of $200 per user. At the time of the software’s release, Sybase
indicated to analysts that it intended to support new smartphone platforms
ranging from Google Android to the Palm Pre.