Sybases ASE Nearly Mac-Ready

Sybase Inc. is fulfilling a promise to deliver a database for the Macintosh operating system by launching later this month its Adaptive Server Enterprise 12.5 to support Apple Computer Inc.s “Jaguar” release.

The new software will become generally available on Sept. 23, company officials said this week. It will run on Mac OS X Server Version 10.2, also known as Jaguar.

A beta testing program of the latest ASE release began in late July.

ASE for Mac will support major features of the latest Mac OS release, including Apples Rendezvous technology to provide zero configuration. Rendezvous allows for dynamic registration of the server, automated discovery of clients and reconfiguration of the database any time server configurations change.

Other OS X features available in the new database software include support for Net-SNMP (Simple Network Management Protocol) so network administrators can monitor the status of the database remotely through SNMP-compatible products such as Hewlett-Packard Co.s OpenView and for the Aqua interface for better usability, Sybase officials said.

Along with the general release, Sybase also announced a Developers Edition of ASE for Mac OS X to allow developers to build and test applications. It is available for free download at www.sybase.com/mac.

Sybase already in May released Open Client and Open Server for Mac OS X, its programming tool kits for creating database applications from within the Apple operating system. Those, combining with the new ASE 12.5 for Mac OS X, will allow customers to use a combination of clients and servers on platforms such as HP, IBM, Linux, Mac, Sun, SGI and Windows.

Sybase officials in the past have said they hope the additional support for Mac will allow the companys database to reach further into new vertical markets such as education, publishing and content management.

The Mac version of ASE 12.5, while not requiring Apples new Xserve server, is particularly aimed at customers that would use the new enterprise server line from Apple, officials have said. In particular, the Xserve adds high-bandwidth I/O handling that is important for running enterprise-class databases such as ASE.