SAP outlines ambitious mobile platform expansion

SAP bought Sybase for $5.8bn

SAP has unveiled plans to offer its software products on mobile platforms within nine months, using technology from the recently acquired enterprise mobility firm Sybase.

Bill McDermott, SAP co-chief executive, said at a press conference today that the need to expand to the mobile platform is imperative given that data is doubling every 18 months.

"Sybase will help us to become the number one leader in mobile industry," he said. "We have aggressive goals; within nine months SAP will be the only company able to deliver the full suite of applications and business intelligence to customers on any platform, anywhere."

The nine-month time frame is achievable, according to Clive Longbottom, service director of business process analysis at Quocirca.

"iAnywhere is an open platform by the nature of how Sybase built it, and had already been used in many SAP systems for providing mobile access," he said.

"SAP will need nine months to be able to build specific solutions and test them in the field, but if it slips at all, it will then be a bad reflection on how complex SAP itself is."

Overall, the acquisition of Sybase will be a boost for SAP as it ran the risk of being left behind as Oracle brought up companies, Longbottom added.

"By getting Sybase, SAP got a database that it has full control over and that can be reengineered to work with SAP, rather than just support it," he said.

Sybase will continue to run as an independent company and its roadmaps will be continued, according to SAP.

The companies will also incorporate SAP in-memory technology across the product ranges, enabling customers to access any type of data, anywhere, in real time.

Gartner has predicted that mobile penetration will reach 90 per cent with as many as 6.5 billion mobile connections by 2014, and SAP is banking on reaping the rewards by offering services on the mobile platform early.

Aside from enterprise mobility, SAP said it aims to innovate in two other key areas: business analytics and enterprise information management.