SAP, Sybase Target SMBs

The relationship means the next version of SAP Business One, an integrated program of front- and back-end enterprise applications, will add Sybase's SQL server database and support the Unix and Linux operating systems. Introduced to the United States in March, Business One currently works only with Windows machines, Microsoft SQL Server and MaxDB, an open-source database from MySQL AB, acquired from SAP last May.

At least one Business One reseller applauded the relationship. "We had two customers who switched to the Microsoft platform but would have preferred to stay with Unix if they could," said Kory Lind, president of Third Wave Business Systems, Elmwood Park, N.J. "We're also getting a lot of questions about Linux."

Lind is among 50 channel partners who sell Business One in the United States. Gary Fromer, SAP's senior vice president of SMB and hosting, said he expects the U.S. channel eventually will comprise about 250 partners.

SAP said it is not abandoning MaxDB for its small-business program. And Marten Mickos, CEO of Seattle-based MySQL, said he welcomes having more database options for SAP.

"I think [the announcement] is in line with SAP's interest in getting itself out of the database business and promoting diversity in the database market," he said.

The new alliance gives SAP more than new database and operating system options. It also supplies resellers with mature mobile products, thanks to Sybase's iAnywhere Solutions subsidiary. Those products include iAnywhere SQL Anywhere Studio, for database management and synchronization; mobile middleware; and the AvantGo service for PDAs, mobile phones and laptops.

Executives from Sybase, Dublin, Calif., said they expect the relationship to be mutually beneficial. "We typically go after Fortune 2000 companies, and this is a way to take advantage of a strong channel in the small- to midsize-business market," said Marty Beard, Sybase's senior vice president of corporate development and marketing.

Fromer said he expects SAP to launch the Sybase version of Business One for the United States and Western Europe in the late spring.

Barbara Darrow contributed to this story.