German giant SAP has bought Sybase for $5.8bn - a big premium for the database and mobile firm. The deal gives Sybase shareholders $65 per share - 44 per cent more than the shares have been worth, on average, over the last three months. SAP is using its own cash and a $2.75bn loan from Deutsche Bank and Barclays Capital to …

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Thursday 13th May 2010 09:55 GMT Matt Bryant

Hello?

Did someone forget the glaringly obvious bit whereby SAP just threatened to put a big dent in Oracle's enterprise database sales? I can't recall the exact percentages but the main databases used with SAP are Microsoft SQL and Oracle, and if SAP decides to simply build-in Sybase's database product into the SAP stack it can cut both out of the deal! On the M$ front that would be all the more ironic given the common heritage of M$ SQL Server and Sybase's ADS. It would also be a serious number one on Oracle's bonfire given that, despite Larry's gabber about offering the whole stack, Oracle doesn't seem to e quite there yet.

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Thursday 13th May 2010 11:17 GMT MJI

Advantage Database Server

I hope this will still be safe. Excellent product.

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Thursday 13th May 2010 13:35 GMT Victor 2

ORLY

"The partnership could prove a real competitor for Oracle, which is still busy digesting its purchase of Sun."

No, I don't think so.

SAP will now need to digest this acquisition and it still doesn't compare to what Oracle can offer.

Also, take care to notice they are targeting mobile with this acquisition, not going head to head against Oracle. OTOH, customers ask for SAP on Oracle or SAP on MSSQL (depending on their infrastructure)... They won't migrate to sybase just for the sake of it.

This will be interesting nevertheless, but not real competition.

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1. Thursday 13th May 2010 20:33 GMT Matt Bryant
  
  RE: ORLY
  
  ".....SAP will now need to digest this acquisition...." Nope, all they have to do is bundle in a cheap version of Sybase's database products with SAP for now, they have plenty of time to work on a more integrated stack including mobile toys. Oracle survives on pricey database licences, whereas SAP are more interested in selling the apps on top.
  
  ".....it still doesn't compare to what Oracle can offer....." Oh yeah, because Oracle have that well-known, market-leading ERP/BI/CRM tool called.... oh, no they actually don't! Nothing like the SAP suite. JD Edwards? Oracle have hardly covered themselves in glory there! Instead, Snoracle can offer servers no-one wants, very limited storage options, thrid-party management software, and a good database. Their ERP/BI/CRM tools are hardly integrated and don't have the market appeal of SAP's.
  
  /SP&L
  
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  1. Friday 14th May 2010 09:13 GMT Anonymous Coward
    
    what about DB2?
    
    all comments on Oracle and SQLserver and no mention of DB2? truth is DB2 is SAPs preferred DB , they use it exclusively internally and for development. SAP also sell it! Look at TPC benchmarks, the fastest are all using DB2. To develop Sybase to the same level would take years and $billions of investment. Sybase was not bought to replace DB2 (or Oracle for that matter) but for it's mobility features, end of....
    
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    1. Friday 14th May 2010 23:06 GMT Matt Bryant
      
      RE: what about DB2?
      
      DB2? <Shudders at the thought!> OK, I'll bash Snoreacle in general, but Oracle is my first choice DB 90% of the time. Problem is the beancounters think it is pricey. All it would take is some smarmy SAP salesman getting too cosy with the CFO or head beancounter, making an offer to replace all the DB instances in our SAP environments with Sybase at half the price, and the next thing I'd know I'd be fighting a rearguard action to stop Sybase being implemented. The beancounters wouldn't care if it wasn't 100% as fast as Oracle (or DB2), or as easy to deploy or manage, they'd just point to the 50% saving and say "Well, a database is a database, isn' t it?"
      
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  2. Friday 14th May 2010 15:47 GMT Victor 2
    
    Yah... RE: RE: ORLY
    
    @Matt:
    
    "Nope, all they have to do is bundle in a cheap version of Sybase's database products with SAP for now, they have plenty of time to work on a more integrated stack including mobile toys. Oracle survives on pricey database licences, whereas SAP are more interested in selling the apps on top."
    
    That's what Exadata does exactly for Oracle, and they still have plenty of time to keep integrating. No news there.
    
    "Oh yeah, because Oracle have that well-known, market-leading ERP/BI/CRM tool called.... oh, no they actually don't! Nothing like the SAP suite."
    
    Actually, most of the time the problem with Oracle is not that they lack applications, but that they have too many offerings... Have you even took the time to explore oracle applications site? http://www.oracle.com/us/products/applications/index.html ... Most of those are well known and market leading, being acquisitions of already well known products... and yes, many customers I have met use them, even if most use SAP, you can't just disregard Oracle's presence.
    
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Friday 14th May 2010 09:19 GMT GC

"Company founder John Chen"?

" Company founder John Chen" ... I don't think so!

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Friday 14th May 2010 09:19 GMT Pavlovs well trained dog

John Chen founder

huh?

What about Hoffman and Epstein?

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