SQL Anywhere Studio, the database technology from Sybase subsidiary iAnywhere, has been chosen by General Dynamics UK (GDUK) as a key component of the UK's Ministry of Defence (MOD) project to revolutionise its battlefield communications systems.
SQL Anywhere will provide up-to-date information for soldiers in the field, improving communications throughout the ranks.
Working with GDUK, iAnywhere plans to implement its industry-leading small footprint embedded database into a mobile military solution, as part of the ministry's BOWMAN CIP project, which will improve communications for the Army, Royal Navy and Royal Air Force.
"iAnywhere was chosen because its database technology offered the best results throughout rigorous benchmarking analysis and was the best engineered for the mobile battlefield environment," says Caroline Scofield, mobile product manager at Sybase SA.
Until the introduction of BOWMAN CIP, a large proportion of UK Army Command and Control on the battlefield was based on manual processes for the monitoring and planning of deployed forces. These handwritten plans, orders and maps meant that there were limitations to sharing information efficiently below brigade level. At the heart of BOWMAN CIP is the Common Battlefield Applications Toolset (ComBAT) and an information management system that jointly enhance the entire battle interaction for soldiers at all levels, and aid the planning and control of the battle space. iAnywhere's role will be to provide the database platform to support the information management of a substantial number of battlefield information system applications (BISAs).
A representative of General Dynamics UK, the prime contractor and systems integrator for the BOWMAN CIP programme, says: "The current use of manual systems meant there was enormous scope for improving communications and information management through the use of current technology. With so much at stake, we needed a platform that could optimise the information to which commanders have access, so we set about rigorously testing other leading, best-in-class industry solutions. It was the SQL Anywhere Studio database from iAnywhere that consistently demonstrated the smallest disk and memory footprint in the target platform environment. SQL Anywhere Studio also provided the best scalable performance (transactions per second for the same number of concurrent connections), and the lowest administrative overhead.
"It also demonstrated the best utilisation of CPU and available memory, comparatively less complex backup and recovery procedures, and its maintenance tasks were comparably fewer. We felt it was the best engineering choice that met the requirements for the BOWMAN CIP system.
"This is a large and complex project, but the benchmarking proves that iAnywhere's small footprint database can stand up to rigorous testing and still offer the best performance," says Scofield. "With its high performance and low maintenance, SQL Anywhere Studio is a very attractive option for distributed and mobile applications."
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Sybase SA is the sole South African representative of Sybase Inc (USA), one of the largest global independent software companies. Sybase's open-architecture solutions provide the data management and mobility necessary to create the unwired enterprise - a place where information flows freely through mobile software solutions. Sybase products integrate platforms, databases, and applications, and extend those applications to mobile workers through mobile and WiFi technologies.
Sybase enables companies to attain maximum value from their data assets by getting the right information to the right people at the right time and place. The company's reputation for delivering mission-critical solutions has made it the leader in the financial industry, with Sybase powering over half the trades on Wall Street, and in mobile technology, where the company is the market leader in mobile databases, middleware, and WiFi solutions.
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