In a move that makes SAP a contender in the burgeoning enterprise mobility market, the software giant announced it will acquire Sybase, Inc., a database and mobile platform provider, for $5.8 billion.
The deal, which SAP will finance through cash on hand and a €2.75 billion loan underwritten by Barclays Capital and Deutsche Bank, is expected to close in July. It addresses multiple goals, experts said today. First, it supports SAP’s emphasis on in-memory computing, in which data resides in a computer’s active memory rather than on a disk, thereby boosting application performance. To that end, Sybase markets its In-Memory Database (IMDB) platform, which will bolster SAP’s efforts to embed complex processing in its applications. Second, Sybase will strengthen SAP’s position against Oracle, which maintains a thriving database business and also has a strong analytics portfolio. Third, considering that Oracle and SAP have each struggled to mobilize their enterprise applications, the Sybase Unwired Platform, an architecture for mobile application development, gives SAP a leg up on the competition.
“Had Oracle acquired Sybase, they certainly would have directed Sybase away from working with SAP, so strategically this was a good pre-emptive strike,” said Jack Gold, president of analyst firm J. Gold Associates, in an interview with Managing Automation.
SAP and Sybase announced a partnership in March 2009 that resulted in the delivery of mobile SAP CRM and workflow applications for the iPhone and Windows Mobile earlier this year. Today’s development guarantees more mobile applications, Gold said.