SAP and Sybase to Offer Mobile Software

NEW YORK — Enterprise software provider SAP and software delivery specialist Sybase have announced a partnership to deliver SAP Business Suite Software to the iPhone, Windows Mobile, Blackberry and other wireless devices.

The partnership is driven by the recognition that the use of mobile devices in the workplace is growing rapidly. It’s a tough economy, but enterprises are still making investments where those investments promise efficiency enhancements.

During a presentation here at SAP’s New York offices, the company said that its efforts with Sybase aimed to deliver enhanced productivity to business decision makers by integrating mobile devices into the enterprise in a way that actually works — as opposed to less efficient, clumsier designs it said are often employed today.

The result would see SAP’s applications, based on its NetWeaver Mobile platform, being delivered to mobile devices using Sybase’s technology.

While the partnership is being announced today, the products will begin to appear on the market in the second half of 2009, with more to come.

John Chen, president and CEO of Sybase, said that two companies’ work is extensive.

“We have collaborated on our vision, on sales and marketing, and in engineering,” he said, joking that “The difference between this partnership and others is that the lawyers did not take up most of the time devoted to it!”

For SAP, the move continues the company’s efforts to approach a device-agnostic delivery model for applications like CRM, which could allow on-the-go managers to make more timely decisions. The software giant has been making steps in that direction since introducing NetWeaver Mobile in 2007.

Sybase, meanwhile, is building an ecosystem that will support all devices, enabling SAP to focus on the applications that are its core competence, the companies said.

This article was first published on InternetNews.com.