Sybase Covers Bases

Sybase Inc. is thinking big--and small. The database- and integration-software supplier last week debuted a release of its Sybase IQ data warehouse software that can handle huge volumes of data and a new version of its SQL Anywhere database for mobile and embedded applications and small businesses.

Data warehouses contain increasingly large volumes of data and handle ever-more-complex analytical chores. Sybase IQ 12.5's enhancements let the software maintain a data warehouse's performance despite large amounts of data and complex queries.

Nielsen Media Research has operated a data warehouse based on Sybase IQ for a year to collect and analyze about 10 terabytes of TV-ratings data. The company is testing release 12.5 and preparing to put it into production. "The two key things we look at is the volume of data and the intensity of the queries that hit that data," IT strategy VP Kamal Nasser says. The new release processes queries faster and offers improved backup and recovery, he says.

SQL Anywhere Studio 9 is the latest version of Sybase's database software for mobile, embedded, and Web applications; data synchronization; and applications for small and midsize businesses. The release offers support for Web services and runs on Mac OS X and 64-bit Itanium servers running Linux, HP-UX, and Windows 2003.

HealthWyse LLC, which provides IT services to home health-care service agencies, has been using SQL Anywhere Studio 9 for about a month. It processes some queries 20% to 50% faster than the previous version, says Andrew Braunstein, HealthWyse's chief technology officer.

Sybase IQ 12.5 is available now, starting at $25,000. SQL Anywhere Studio 9 will be available in the third quarter for Windows and in the fourth quarter for Linux, Unix, and Mac OS X.