IN THE BOARDROOM™ with...
Ms. Shirley Macbeth
Senior Marketing Director
Sybase iAnywhere
www.sybase.com
NYSE:SY
SecuritySolutionsWatch.com:
Thank you for joining us today, Shirley. Please give us an overview of
your background and your role with Sybase iAnywhere.
Shirley Macbeth: It’s good to have the chance to talk with you.
I’ve been with Sybase for the last ten years, and currently I oversee
all product marketing and communications for Sybase iAnywhere’s
mobility software products. This ranges from driving global lead generation
across direct sales and partner channels to managing the company’s
international marketing, advertising, public relations and event planning
teams. I’ve worked in corporate communications and public relations
prior to Sybase, for companies such as Schwartz Communications and for
AT&T.
SecuritySolutionsWatch.com: Please give our audience an
overview of Sybase iAnywhere solutions. What is your perspective on the
market drivers for Sybase iAnywhere solutions at this time. Is the ever-increasing
mobility of our workforce together with the challenge of protecting and
managing information security a big part of it?
Shirley Macbeth: Sybase’s vision of the Unwired
Enterprise is focused on managing and mobilizing data from the data center
to the point of action. The company has more than 20 years of experience
in information management, which is complemented by Sybase iAnywhere’s
leadership and focus on information mobility. Together, these technologies
deliver on the promise of the Unwired Enterprise to help organizations
attain maximum value from their data. On the mobillity side, the company
holds worldwide market leadership positions in mobile and embedded databases,
management and security, middleware and synchronization, as well as Bluetooth
and infrared protocol technologies.
And yes, one of toughest IT challenges that companies have is around management
and security: how to ensure that frontline applications are as reliable,
secure, and available as applications that run within the enterprise.
Companies don’t often realize that mobility needs to be managed
very differently than laptops and desktop machines. IT is used to having
control of applications and devices within the four walls of their enterprise,
but are often unsure how to deal with the complexity of frontline environments.
The frontlines are characterized by a variety of different devices, communications
networks, and are often beyond direct IT support and control. IT must
deal with issues such as how to update information on mobile devices that
are away from the enterprise, how to secure data on the device and during
transmission, what to do in the event of a loss or theft of a device.
In short, organizations need to incorporate mobility in their IT planning,
implementation and security strategies to ensure it complements their
existing processes.
SecuritySolutionsWatch.com: Sybase works with more than
1,700 of the world's largest financial institutions, 90 percent of the
world's securities firms and 60 percent of its banks – very impressive
figures. One of your more recent “wins” among financial organizations
was with Grant Thornton, which selected Sybase iAnywhere to manage 3000
mobile devices. What can you tell us about the iAnywhere solution they’re
deploying?
Shirley Macbeth: As you may know, Grant Thornton is
the 5th largest accounting and tax business advisory organization in the
U.S. They needed to find a way to simplify compliance to strict regulations
set forth by the government relative to tax updates. As updates are issued,
Grant Thornton needs to ensure that these government rules and regulations
are current and referenceable by their financial advisors at all times.
Using Sybase iAnywhere’s Information Anywhere device management
and mobile email technologies, Grant Thornton can make sure that when
updates are issued, that they can easily push these updates out to their
3,000+ Assurance professionals across the USA. Being able to get these
updates incrementally rather than in a batch at the end of each month
has enabled their workforce to be more accurate, to work faster and in
turn, to give their clients even better customer service.
SecuritySolutionsWatch.com: Peoplefirst Rehab is another interesting "win".
Care to elaborate?
Shirley Macbeth: Peoplefirst Rehabilitation is a great example of an
innovative company in the healthcare segment that is realizing how managing
and securing the company’s mobile devices can help streamline patient
care. Using Sybase iAnywhere’s Information Anywhere management and
security technology, Peoplefirst Rehabilitation is able to help its 6,200
therapists across the country to document daily activities at the point
of care, with the ability to synchronize data at regular intervals. Not
only are they able to eliminate timely paper reporting, but Peoplefirst
will also be able to ensure that patient information is kept confidential
and remains compliant with HIPAA regulations. Peoplefirst therapists are
able to work better, with less paperwork, enabling them to spend more
time with their patients.
SecuritySolutionsWatch.com: Let's turn to the Government sector for a moment.
One will read on Sybase.com that, "Government organizations at every
level struggle to provide more sophisticated and competitive services
- with fewer resources. This drives a sector-wide move toward government
solutions that include mobile computing and an empowered workforce of
government and civilian employees. Government entities must modernize,
standardize and re-engineer their information systems. They need solutions
that deliver critical information securely - wherever and whenever it's
needed." Without divulging any confidential or sensitive information
- can you give us an overview of one or two Government "wins".
Shirley Macbeth: One example is the office of the Sheriff
for Charles County, Maryland, a law enforcement agency serving approximately
130,000 citizens. With the terrorist attacks on the United States in 2001
and their county's proximity to Washington D.C., the police officers of
Charles County, Maryland need to be extra alert to issues of homeland
security. Reporting has become more important and at the same time, more
cumbersome. They realized that their officers were drowning under the
mountain of
paperwork they were creating. The department was relying on the paper-based
reporting methods they had used for decades. While those methods had worked
in the past, the urgency and volume of the current data necessitated changes.
The department turned to a mobile reporting system, giving them the ability
to record data in the field, reducing both the time spent writing reports,
but also the time needed to search through reports for crucial data. Using
Information Anywhere security and management technology, the devices that
the agency uses are always safe and secure. Not only are crucial updates
and information pushed directly to devices as needed, but if a device
is lost or stolen, Information Anywhere provides functionality to either
lock down the device or to completely wipe the device clean, protecting
the security of vital policing information, such as surveillance operations,
and protecting the rights of victims.
SecuritySolutionsWatch.com: We understand that you have
an important strategic relationship with Accenture. May we have an overview?
Shirley Macbeth: Accenture and Sybase iAnywhere have
a strategic alliance agreement in which, as part of its mobility practice,
Accenture is leveraging our mobility technology in select engagements.
For example, we are working with Accenture and Harris Corporation in the
2010 Census project which leverages Information Anywhere management, mobile
database and synchronization technologies on mobile devices used by over
500,000 census takers. Another engagement we are working on with Accenture
is an RFID deployment by ThyssenKrupp Steel, in which they are using our
technology to manage logistics for 100,000 steel slabs per year.
SecuritySolutionsWatch.com: RFID certainly has proven to be a fast-emerging
technology and one in which many of our readers have expressed interest.
Can you tell me a bit more about Sybase iAnywhere’s RFID technology?
Have you had any other interesting customer wins in that market?
Shirley Macbeth: Sybase iAnywhere’s RFID Anywhere
provides a flexible software infrastructure that integrates business logic
and processes with a variety of automatic data collection and sensor technologies,
including RFID, barcodes, mobile devices, PLCs, location tracking systems,
environmental sensors and feedback mechanisms. This powerful infrastructure
enables the creation of intelligent sensor networks out-of-the-box. By
using RFID Anywhere, sensors are able to work together as an intelligent
network by combining, organizing and coordinating these technologies through
a common management structure, advanced feature set and event-driven development
framework. In addition to the deployment mentioned above at ThyssenKrupp
Steel in Germany, RFID Anywhere is also behind the one of the largest
RFID deployments in Europe at Correos, the postal service of Spain. They’re
using RFID to check nearly 200,000 deliveries each year to obtain information
about the letter delivery times. In the first year, approximately 40,000
deliveries will have an electronic label or tag, which will provide detailed
information about their journey through the Processing Centres. Already
the the information they’ve obtained with this solution has improved
quality control and the delivery times of the roughly five-billion deliveries
Correos makes each year.
SecuritySolutionsWatch.com: Database Management is a discipline
that cuts across nearly every segment of our audience. May we have an
overview of Sybase solutions in this area?
Shirley Macbeth: Sybase has long been acknowledged as a leading developer
of world-class data management solutions, at the core of which is its
Adaptive Server Enterprise (ASE) product. ASE delivers capabilities urgently
needed by enterprises today and lays the foundation for long-term strategic
agility and continuing innovation in mission-critical environments. In
doing so it provides a high-performance, mission-critical database management
system that is designed for fast paced business processes, such as stock
trading on Wall Street, providing telecommunications services, maintaining
patient insurance records for the healthcare industry or delivering critical
intelligence needs. It also seamlessly integrated with Sybase IQ, a highly
optimized analytic business intelligence engine that is designed to deliver
dramatically faster results for mission-critical analytic business intelligence,
data warehouse and reporting solutions on standard hardware and operating
systems.
Many business operations, however, are moving out of the physical plant
of the enterprise and are carried out on mobile devices in frontline environments.
Our database portfolio also includes Sybase iAnywhere’s SQL Anywhere,
which is the #1 mobile and embedded database on the market. It provides
data management and data exchange technologies that enable database-powered
applications for frontline environments, giving mobile workers access
to enterprise-caliber features on small footprint devices, including Windows
Mobile, Windows desktop, Symbian and Palm operating systems. SQL Anywhere
is also tightly integrated with Sybase iAnywhere’s Information Anywhere
management and security technology, which ensures that frontline mobile
devices that access information from enterprise databases are as secure,
reliable and available as those running within the data center.
SecuritySolutionsWatch.com: What resources such as streaming
video, webinars, webcasts, podcasts, "white papers" and "case
studies" are available for end-users on www.Sybase.com?
Shirley Macbeth: www.sybase.com and www.ianywhere.com
both have comprehensive information about how companies are creating revolutionary
solutions to business problems. Not only can viewers find datasheets on
our products but they can also read blogs, sign up for webcasts, view
hundreds of customer case studies and even sign up for classes such as
those at the Sybase
iAnywhere RFID University. You can even access our Getting Started
programs and developer communities.
SecuritySolutionsWatch.com: Thanks again for joining us today, Shirley. Are
there any other subjects you'd like to discuss?
Shirley Macbeth: Thank you for the opportunity to talk
about the Sybase iAnywhere and the mobile and wireless market. It’s
an exciting
time for companies to “go mobile” - the availability of more
sophisticated, powerful and less expensive “converged” mobility
devices, coupled with improvements in battery life and wireless bandwidth,
have set the stage for a new generation of mobility solutions. Yet, it’s
important for organizations to look at the bigger picture and carefully
consider issues like management and security as part of their mobility
and IT planning right from the outset. I wish your readers best of luck
in their projects.
|