Sybase Inc. has entered several new partnerships to help enterprises extend critical business applications to mobile work forces.
The company is joining with Research In Motion Ltd., of Waterloo, Ontario, to bring mobile software from Sybase subsidiary iAnywhere Solutions Inc. to RIMs BlackBerry wireless platform for BlackBerry users looking to access business applications.
With Atlanta-based Cingular Wireless, Sybase has optimized several iAnywhere mobile products for Cingulars high-speed EDGE (Enhanced Data for Global Evolution) wireless data network.
These products include M-Business Anywhere, a platform for extending Web-based content and applications to mobile devices; Mobile Pharma and Mobile Sales, software for extending data to sales forces out in the field; Pylon Anywhere, for remote access to Lotus Notes and Microsoft Exchange e-mail, calendar and contacts; and Unwired Accelerator, for mobilizing Web-enabled enterprise applications and databases.
Sybase is also working with Sprint Corp., of Overland Park, Kan., to develop applications tailored for vertical industries such as financial services, insurance, education, manufacturing, professional services and pharmaceuticals, according to Sybase CEO, Chairman and President John Chen.
Chen said the next key step for enterprise mobility will be to extend applications to mobile workers beyond e-mail, such as sales force automation and field service applications.
Chen urged enterprise users to adopt a new business model in which wireless is viewed as integral, rather than as an addendum, to a network.
“Now somebodys going to take this and make it part of the business process early on,” said Chen in his keynote at the CTIA Wireless conference here last week.