Discussions About Sybase's Embedded Mobile Database Business, Part 1

SQL Anywhere
Yesterday, I had the pleasure of speaking with Tom Slee at Sybase.  Tom works out of the Sybase office in Waterloo, Ontario.  We have known of each other professionally for many years, as I was the CEO of a mobile application company that partnered with Sybase.  Yesterday we discussed many different subjects including, HTML5, SQL Anywhere, SQL Lite, SUP, mobile application development strategies, data synchronization and the most interesting developments in the embedded mobile database areas at Sybase. 

Tom had commented on an article I wrote several weeks back questioning the role of embedded mobile databases in a future with HTML5 and SQL Lite.  He had corrected me by saying SQL Lite is very often used with HTML5, but that it was not an "official" part of the HTML5 standard.  I stand corrected.  However, yesterday he added that SQL Lite is an unofficial part of HTML5 for many developers.

My questions several weeks ago were directed at learning if developers would continue to need and to purchase Sybase's SQL Anywhere embedded mobile databases (RDBMS) if there was a free option that works with HTML5 called SQL Lite.  Tom provided me with a much greater understanding of this issue which I will share to the best of my abilities.

SQL Lite working with HTML5 enables developers to store data on mobile devices.  This is very useful when developers want to save data entered into a mobile application, record the state of a mobile application, or record where the user is in an application.  Developers can also store product catalogs and all kinds of other data in this database.  It is a very good solution when there is no need, or limited need to synchronize the mobile application data back to an enteprise database.

Mobile Marketing News Weekly - Week of July 4, 2011

The Mobile Marketing News Weekly is an online newsletter that is made up of the most interesting news, articles and links related to mobile marketing that I run across each week.  I am specifically targeting market size and market trend information.

Also read Field Mobility News Weekly
Also read Mobile Commerce News Weekly
Also read Mobility News Weekly
Also read M2M News Weekly

Oracle is claiming $2.6 billion in patent and copyright infringement damages related to its ongoing intellectual property skirmish with Google over the Android mobile operating system.  Read Original Content.

Total consumer and advertiser money spent on location-based services could make the sector a $10 billion industry by 2016, according to a new report from Strategy Analytics.  Read Original Content.

A recent study by Nielsen has found that during the past three months smartphones outsold traditional cell phones for the first time ever.  Read Original Content.

According to BIA/Kelsey, total U.S. mobile ad spending will grow from $790 million in 2010 to $4 billion in 2015.  Read Original Content.

According to a Gartner report, global mobile advertisement spending is projected to double in 2011 to $3.3 billion due a more favorable market and by 2015 it could reach $20.6 billion.  Read Original Content.

Within the past three years over 4.5 billion apps have been downloaded to Android smartphones.  Read Original Content.

Real Estate Companies and Enterprise Mobility

I read today that the Inland Real Estate Group of Companies, Inc., was a recipient of a Digie Award at the Realcomm 2011 tradeshow last week. The award recognizes Inland’s achievements in mobilizing business data and property management information.  Never heard of the Digie Award?  Me neither, but it honors companies, projects and solutions that represent the most innovative use of technology and automation in commercial and corporate real estate.

Their enterprise mobility solution is said to enhance the productivity of property managers, maintenance supervisors and leasing agents.  What was the problem?  They were using JD Edwards ERP system and custom built SQL data warehouses in the office, but they printed expensive and out-of-date paper reports to use in the field.

The mobile solution they chose was from Webalo.  Now, once on site, employees can use a mobile solution on their smartphones to check the current status of rent receivables, review upcoming lease expiration's, check on outstanding work orders for repairs and improvements, look up and contact approved vendors, access staff and tenant phone numbers and review the history and status of onsite safety equipment.  Those are a lot of different business processes that are all supported in one solution.

The article said the Webalo solution connected the existing enterprise with the most current data to the employees’ smartphones without creating mobile apps, and without incurring the expense of traditional mobile development.  Without creating mobile apps?  Hummm....how do they do it?   Here is what their website says, "The Webalo Client automatically generates an interface that’s compatible with the user's device to provide interaction with enterprise applications."

Inland’s John Bedlek said, “In the current difficult economic climate, we were able to quickly and economically provide better service to tenants, more information to property managers and leasing agents and most importantly, greater value to investors.”

I find this model very interesting.  You configure your interface to the back end systems in a cloud-based configuration tool, and then the user interface is generated for your mobile device, and you have access to your data.  They claim simple mobile projects can be done in hours or days if you have the right business analyst available to help you access and find the right data.  Interesting indeed!

You can read the full press release here.

Upcoming Events

ClickConnect APAC 2011, July 11 – 13, 2011
Syclo Mobile Conference 2011, July 13 – 15, 2011

Whitepapers of Note

The Business Benefits of Mobile Adoption with SAP Systems
ClickSoftware Mobility Suite and Sybase Mobility Solution
Mobile Adoption Among Gas and Electric Utilities
Mobile Adoption in Life Sciences
Mobile Adoption in Oil and Gas
Networked Field Services

Recorded Webinars of Note

3 Critical Considerations for Embracing Mobile CRM
The Future of Enterprise Mobility
The Latest m-Business Trends and How the Onslaught of Mobile Devices Affects Development Strategies
The Real-Time Mobile Enterprise:  The Benefits of Rapid, Easy Access
Syclo and SAP Deliver Mobile Apps on Sybase Unwired Platform



*************************************************************
Kevin Benedict, Independent Mobile and M2M Industry Analyst, SAP Mentor Volunteer
Follow me on Twitter @krbenedict
Full Disclosure: I am an independent mobility analyst, consultant and blogger. I work with and have worked with many of the companies mentioned in my articles.

Mobile Commerce News Weekly - Week of July 4, 2011

The Mobile Commerce News Weekly is an online newsletter made up of the most interesting news, articles and links related to mobile payments, mobile money, e-wallets, mobile banking and mobile security that I run across each week.  I am specifically targeting market size and market trend information.

Also read Field Mobility News Weekly
Also read Mobile Marketing News Weekly
Also read Mobility News Weekly
Also read M2M News Monthly

Verifone has announced that it now offers a device that turns a tablet into a form of checkout register.  The device has both a magnetic device for swiping credit cards as well as NFC capability for mobile payments.  Read Original Content.

Despite being unprofitable, Square, the manufacturer of the small credit card reader that attaches to smartphones, is valued at $1.6 billion.  Read Original Content.

Asia continues to contain the largest number of mobile phone users who make mobile payments.  Currently there are 1.8 billion worldwide mobile phone users who make purchases via a mobile device.  By 2015 the Wireless Federation expects there to be 2.5 billion.  Read Original Content.

PayPal president Scott Thompson has said that by 2015 paper currency in the United States will nearly become obsolete as the popularity of mobile payments continues to rise.  Read Original Content.

Analyst firm Juniper Research has revealed figures predicting that by 2015, the number of people using mobile payment services will have risen by 40 percent to 2.5 billion.  Read Original Content.

MasterCard and CSI Enterprises are expected to release a handful of new mobile payments applications for Android, BlackBerry and iOS this summer, but it's unclear whether or not the apps will employ NFC for payment transactions or another technology.  Read Original Content.

Social Networking and Enterprise Mobility in Less Developed Regions

I am still pondering a conversation I had last week with a manufacturing company that has 40,000 of their 80,000 employees in remote parts of the world that are not connected to the company through IT resources.  They have no computers or Internet connectivity through the company.  The company wants to connect with these disconnected employees.  They are convinced that there is business value in connecting with them.  They see mobility as a key part of their solution.  Perhaps not smartphone and laptop apps kind of connectivity, but SMS.

The company believes mobility and social networking for the enterprise are the keys to improved sales, customer services, accountability, community, process improvement and information sharing. 

I think the reason this is so interesting to me is that the company sees social networking via SMS as a key element to their strategy.  They want groups sharing information.  They want to explore all kinds of different SMS based applications that can support different business processes on simple inexpensive phones.

I understand that Sybase 365 is a Sybase solution for SMS.  I really need to learn more to see if it can be used to help companies like the one mentioned above.  I also need to understand if StreamWorks has an SMS component that can add value here.

What do you think? 

Upcoming Events

ClickConnect APAC 2011, (Sydney, Australia) July 11 – 13, 2011
Syclo Mobile Conference 2011, July 13 – 15, 2011

Whitepapers of Note

The Business Benefits of Mobile Adoption with SAP Systems
ClickSoftware Mobility Suite and Sybase Mobility Solution
Mobile Adoption Among Gas and Electric Utilities
Mobile Adoption in Life Sciences
Mobile Adoption in Oil and Gas
Networked Field Services

Recorded Webinars of Note

3 Critical Considerations for Embracing Mobile CRM
The Future of Enterprise Mobility
The Latest m-Business Trends and How the Onslaught of Mobile Devices Affects Development Strategies
The Real-Time Mobile Enterprise:  The Benefits of Rapid, Easy Access
Syclo and SAP Deliver Mobile Apps on Sybase Unwired Platform



*************************************************************
Kevin Benedict, Independent Mobile and M2M Industry Analyst, SAP Mentor Volunteer
Follow me on Twitter @krbenedict
Full Disclosure: I am an independent mobility analyst, consultant and blogger. I work with and have worked with many of the companies mentioned in my articles.

Recruitment and Enterprise Mobility

I was surprised this past month, while participating in the SAP PCN Enterprise Mobility round tables at SAPPHIRENOW 2011, to hear from a number of very large SAP customers that recruiting is impacted by how much enterprise mobility is supported by a company.  I had just not connected the dots.

They said young talent just graduating from the university does not want to work for a company that is not able to support their favorite mobile devices.  Being told that a company will not support integration on their iPhone or iPad just does not seem right to them.  It seems old fashion and out of step with the times.

I had not thought of recruiting as a motivator for enterprise mobility.  I had not thought of mobility ROIs in terms of being able to recruit top talent.  After thinking about it though it makes sense to me.  My wife already looks unfavorably on companies that don't have a mobile app.  She feels they are not providing good customer service if they don't have an application.

Here is an example, we accumulate Marriott hotel award points.  My wife wanted a Marriott mobile app to check on awards points and to make reservations.  We could find no mobile app.  She was baffled that Marriott would not support a mobile application and thought it was a poor representation of their business for not having one.

In our house, Amazon.com's mobile application is used weekly to purchase household items and books.  Our purchases have gone up dramatically as a result of Amazon's mobile app.  We participate in Amazon.com's free shipping program and we know our FedEx and UPS drivers well.

Getting back on the subject of recruitment and mobile applications.  People are spending more time on mobile devices today than desktops.  People are spending more time on social networking applications on mobile devices than on desktops.  The mobile device is much more than just a business tool today.  It is a portal into a person's life.  People will not look favorably on a company that does not support this portal in the manner their accustomed to.

Do you agree or disagree?

Upcoming Events

ClickConnect APAC 2011, July 11 – 13, 2011
Syclo Mobile Conference 2011, July 13 – 15, 2011

Whitepapers of Note

The Business Benefits of Mobile Adoption with SAP Systems
ClickSoftware Mobility Suite and Sybase Mobility Solution
Mobile Adoption Among Gas and Electric Utilities
Mobile Adoption in Life Sciences
Mobile Adoption in Oil and Gas
Networked Field Services

Recorded Webinars of Note

3 Critical Considerations for Embracing Mobile CRM
The Future of Enterprise Mobility
The Latest m-Business Trends and How the Onslaught of Mobile Devices Affects Development Strategies
The Real-Time Mobile Enterprise:  The Benefits of Rapid, Easy Access
Syclo and SAP Deliver Mobile Apps on Sybase Unwired Platform


*************************************************************
Kevin Benedict, Independent Mobile and M2M Industry Analyst, SAP Mentor Volunteer
Follow me on Twitter @krbenedict
Full Disclosure: I am an independent mobility analyst, consultant and blogger. I work with and have worked with many of the companies mentioned in my articles.

Field Mobility News Weekly - Week of July 4, 2011

The Field Mobility News Weekly is an online newsletter made up of the most interesting news and articles related to field mobility that I run across each week.  I am specifically targeting information that reflects market data and trends.

Also read Mobile Commerce News Weekly
Also read Mobile Marketing News Weekly
Also read Mobility News Weekly
Also read M2M News Monthly

ReboundTAG, based in the United Kingdom, has created a new solution focused on preventing baggage theft or loss for airlines and individual business flyers through the use of RFID technology.  Read Original Content.

The United Kingdom’s Ministry of Defense recently ordered 12,500 rugged tablet PCs at a total cost of £30 million.  The tablets are for use by front line commands.  Read Original Content.

The total smart grid market in the Asia Pacific region is predicted to be worth $28.8 billion by 2017, up from $11.9 billion this year.  Cumulative smart grid investment in the region is expected to reach $171.3 billion by 2017.  Read Original Content.

Traffic jams and travel time will be reduced greatly after Mumbai India equips toll routes and commuter vehicles with RFID tags.   Read Original Content.

The Army Geospatial Center has recently awarded Technology Advancement Group a contract to build a rugged surveying tablet device.  Read Original Content.

FleetMatics has received praise for its new mobile app that allows fleet owners to track their vehicles through a mobile app.  Read Original Content.

SAP and the Enterprise Mobility Message

I had the opportunity over the past few weeks to meet with many SAP customers to discuss enterprise mobility.  I was surprised over the course of these weeks that none of the folks at the companies that I spoke with had attended SAPPHIRENOW 2010 or 2011.  As a result, most had very little knowledge of SAP's enterprise mobility plans, solutions or roadmaps.  Even less had knowledge of the Sybase Unwired Platform or Afaria.  In many cases it was as if I were the first to be sharing this information with them.

All of the companies that I met with were keenly interested in mobility and were working on mobility strategies and projects.  It is obvious to me, as a result of these meetings, that there is an entire community of SAP customers that have missed the enterprise mobility message.  I think it would be beneficial for SAP to develop additional marketing strategies to try to target this apparently large community of SAP users and decision makers that don't seem to currently be in the loop on SAP's mobility strategies and solutions.

I would encourage SAP to aggressively promote their mobility solutions and strategies into this community as all were in the process of developing or implementing mobility strategies.  Many of these companies were very large companies, and someone in the company may know all about SAP's mobility roadmap, but not the folks developing the strategy.

Upcoming Events

ClickConnect APAC 2011, July 11 – 13, 2011
Syclo Mobile Conference 2011, July 13 – 15, 2011

Whitepapers of Note

The Business Benefits of Mobile Adoption with SAP Systems
ClickSoftware Mobility Suite and Sybase Mobility Solution
Mobile Adoption Among Gas and Electric Utilities
Mobile Adoption in Life Sciences
Mobile Adoption in Oil and Gas
Networked Field Services

Recorded Webinars of Note

3 Critical Considerations for Embracing Mobile CRM
The Future of Enterprise Mobility
The Latest m-Business Trends and How the Onslaught of Mobile Devices Affects Development Strategies
The Real-Time Mobile Enterprise:  The Benefits of Rapid, Easy Access
Syclo and SAP Deliver Mobile Apps on Sybase Unwired Platform



*************************************************************
Kevin Benedict, Independent Mobile and M2M Industry Analyst, SAP Mentor Volunteer
Follow me on Twitter @krbenedict
Full Disclosure: I am an independent mobility analyst, consultant and blogger. I work with and have worked with many of the companies mentioned in my articles.

M2M News Weekly - Week of June 27, 2011


Welcome to M2M News Weekly, an online newsletter that consists of the most interesting news and articles related to M2M (machine to machine) and embedded mobile devices.  I aggregate the information, include the original links and add a synopsis of each article.  I also search for the latest market numbers such as market size, growth and trends in and around the M2M market.

Also read Field Mobility News Weekly
Also read Mobile Commerce News Weekly
Also read Mobile Marketing News Weekly
Also read Mobility News Weekly

Juniper Research has released a new study that estimates there will be nearly 412 million global M2M connected devices by 2014.  Read Original Content.

Berg Insight reports that the market for home health monitoring devices was $10 billion in 2010, and patient monitoring is set to grow approximately 26 percent annually through 2014.  Read Original Content.

Pike Research forecasts that worldwide users of home energy management systems will reach 63 million by 2020, up from just over 1 million in 2011.  Read Original Content.

Sprint’s recently launched Mobile Command Center is targeted towards the healthcare industry and remote patient monitoring.  Read Original Content.

The Australian M2M market is worth about $300 million and analysts predict it will grow to $1 billion over the next four years.  Read Original Content.

London Eggs with Benedict Mobility Breakfast Series, July 1st

Eggs with Benedict London
Today we wrapped up the marathon Eggs with Benedict mobility series in sunny London.  Five countries in 5 days.  It is very hard to remember your hotel room number after 5 different hotels.  I was excited to address our biggest audience of the week and dive down into more enterprise mobility discussions.  Our audience included a large multinational company with over 80,000 employees and 40,000 supported IT users, SAP consultants, mobility consultants with a background in Syclo integrations and others with SAP financial backgrounds.

It is a joy to meet people who enjoy and appreciate the complexities of enterprise mobility.  We explored the following issues and topics today:
  • Mobile security models
  • Mobile app development strategies
  • Change Management involving the mobile workforce
  • SMS solutions
  • Mobile BI
  • Mobile UIs
  • Rugged handhelds
  • SAP Mobile Workflow apps
  • SUP (Sybase Unwired Platform)
  • Afaria
  • ClickSoftware
  • Syclo
  • MEAPs
  • M2M 
    Rob Fiddaman,
    K2 Partnering 
    

I also heard how difficult consultants have it when they need an SUP trial license for a client.  They phoned their client's SAP AE for a trial license, but no one at SAP seemed to know how to get a trial license of SUP.  There was a long drawn out process, before it was finally resolved.  The consultants say there are still many processes that need to be worked out between SAP and Sybase.

I learned from an attending large manufacturer of construction materials that they use M2M (machine to machine) technologies to monitor not just assets, but business processes.  They know, with M2M sensors, when a cement truck starts pouring cement and stops.  They said they use M2M technologies to gain visibility into processes.  I love it!  Very interesting!  They said the biggest challenges with M2M is the cost of building logic around how to best use this data from the field.  It needs to be consumed in a system that can benefit from it.
James Common
K2 Partnering

I am exhausted but happy.  I want to thank all those who joined us and shared their thoughts and experiences.  I also want to thank K2 Partnering's Rob Fiddaman and James Common who hosted the events, guided me along and who sponsored this educational tour and made it free for all attendees.  It was a pleasure to spend time with them this week.  They are talented folks with a passion for technology and providing talented resources to their clients.




Upcoming Events

ClickConnect APAC 2011, July 11 – 13, 2011
Syclo Mobile Conference 2011, July 13 – 15, 2011

Whitepapers of Note

The Business Benefits of Mobile Adoption with SAP Systems
ClickSoftware Mobility Suite and Sybase Mobility Solution
Mobile Adoption Among Gas and Electric Utilities
Mobile Adoption in Life Sciences
Mobile Adoption in Oil and Gas
Networked Field Services

Recorded Webinars of Note

3 Critical Considerations for Embracing Mobile CRM
The Future of Enterprise Mobility
The Latest m-Business Trends and How the Onslaught of Mobile Devices Affects Development Strategies
The Real-Time Mobile Enterprise:  The Benefits of Rapid, Easy Access
Syclo and SAP Deliver Mobile Apps on Sybase Unwired Platform

*************************************************************
Kevin Benedict, Independent Mobile and M2M Industry Analyst, SAP Mentor Volunteer
Follow me on Twitter @krbenedict
Full Disclosure: I am an independent mobility analyst, consultant and blogger. I work with and have worked with many of the companies mentioned in my articles.

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