In The Boardroom™ Press Room About Us Research Reports Contact Us
In the Boardroom™
Sybase iAnywhere

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.