B2B software firm Sybase on Friday zeroed in on the wireless
sector, announcing a $38 million all-cash deal to purchase Hayward,
California-based AvantGo and fold it into the iAnywhere
Solutions subsidiary.
As part of Sybase’s iAnywhere, AvantGo will target wireless
middleware for mobilizing Web content. More importantly, it lets Sybase
expand in the B2B mobile market with the addition of AvantGo’s
offline Web capabilities and the popular premium MyAvantGo service.
The plan is to use AvantGo’s software within iAnywhere to deliver an
end-to-end m-Business platform that targets enterprise mobility of Web
content, corporate data and applications. The acquisition is expected to
close during the first quarter next year.
AvantGo, which has struggled to make money from its business and consumer focused mobile software,
claims more than 7 million registered users for its content channel services
but the bulk of its revenues come from licensing revenues for its AvantGo
M-Business Server products, which are typically based on fixed-fee
agreements.
In the deal, Sybase also pockets AvantGo’s customer relationship
management (CRM) software suite which provides chain management and field
force automation mobile business applications and the AvantGo M-Business
server products, for for applications and the Web.
Another crucial part of Friday’s acquisition is the Pylon Pro
desktop-based software that provides remote access to Lotus Notes personal
information management (PIM) applications, e-mail and custom Notes databases
and applications from Palm OS and Pocket PC mobile devices.
Sybase markets software that integrates platforms, databases and
applications for enterprise clients and the move to grab a known brand in
the wireless B2B sector will help fuel growth in the emerging mobile
middleware market, according to iAnywhere president Terry Stepien.
Once the deal closes, Stepien said iAnywhere would open its mobile
database to a new audience — enterprise Web developers and expand the
enterprise reach of AvantGo’s products and applications through Sybase’s
channels and more than 700 embedded database partners.
