Sybase SA has released details of its strategic roadmap to help customers migrate their infrastructure to Web services. The company is rolling out solutions in two distinct ways - support for Web services in existing infrastructure software, and the introduction of new products that allow companies to bridge the gap between different levels of adoption of Web services.
Sybase also supports the development of standards for Web services through its participation in the newly formed Web Services Interoperability Organisation (WS-I) as well as the Organisation for Structured Information Standards (OASIS).
Says Julie Tomlinson, Sybase SA marketing manager: "Sybase's strategy bypasses the hype of Web services by delivering real integration business solutions for enterprises. We have invested heavily in the development of integration technologies as key to its e-business infrastructure software - last year's acquisition of application integration provider New Era of Networks is a good example.
"Our company has a heritage of supporting multi-vendor, multi-platform offerings. This legacy allows Sybase to help our customers take advantage of Web services, and to enable them to expose most existing components as a Web service. Currently, we are one of the few companies able to do this."
Web services has been loosely defined as a way of making various software components communicate with each other in an automated fashion using Internet technologies. Tomlinson says that for Sybase, the explosion of Web services marks an extension and an evolution of integration technologies rather than the revolution many companies are talking about.
"While the evolution of distributed computing via Web services will take many years to achieve mainstream adoption, Sybase is delivering solutions that will help customers adapt when necessary," she adds.
Sybase offers its solutions in two distinct ways:
* Sybase technology is Web services enabled to expose a wide variety of existing software components, including Java, Enterprise Java Beans, database stored procedures, CICS components, ERP applications like SAP, PeopleSoft and Siebel and mobile wireless services. In the near future, Sybase will extend its support to include C, C++ and the PowerBuilder NVO (Non-Visual Objects) as well as more adaptors for ERP and CRM applications and vertical adaptors in healthcare and financial services.
* Sybase provides a solution that lets companies adapt Web services at different times with offerings that bridge the gap of heterogeneous technologies and architectures and allow customers to choose a combination of technologies and/or platforms to develop and deploy Web services.
"Independent software vendors rarely agree on one standard. This has been true with the evolution of SQL, Java and J2EE. Web services will no doubt follow the same path," says Craig Roth, senior programme director of Meta Group's Web and collaborative strategy service.
"Companies that help their customers make sense of and leverage Web services with offerings that are open and support evolving and proprietary standards will be important contributors to the developing Web services arena."
Sybase is providing a comprehensive portfolio of open integration products for Web services and acting as a multi-channel service provider for mobile, Web and Smart Clients. Web services are delivered in four ways:
* Developing - software that helps with the automation and development of Web services.
* Providing - software that hosts Web services.
* Accessing - software that connects to a Web service and delivers the value of that service on to its intended user.
* Orchestrating - a set of software services that assemble and orchestrate, helping to coordinate the activities of services in use.
"When it comes to Web services solutions, companies are looking to established platform vendors that provide a suite of application and integration infrastructure products. As a full-spectrum provider, Sybase is well-positioned to help companies meet their Web services goals," concludes Tomlinson.
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