SQL Anywhere 11 continues to push the boundaries of enterprise-caliber database features such as embedded full-text search, parallel sorting, and immediately maintained materialised views by optimising them for environments outside the data center. In addition, SQL Anywhere continues to advance its mobile database and synchronisation leadership, including support for BlackBerry devices, MySQL, and background data synchronisation. New developer features in SQL Anywhere 11, along with a new Web Edition target the emerging Web 2.0 and Rich Internet Applications.

 “For more than 15 years SQL Anywhere’s self-managing database and synchronisation technologies have been engineered to run outside the traditional data centre,” said Dave Neudoerffer, vice president, Engineering, Sybase iAnywhere. “SQL Anywhere 11 is a key enabler of Sybase’s Unwired Enterprise strategy by facilitating distributed data management architectures that provide global enterprises information access anytime, anywhere.”
”We’re seeing a revolution in the use of business information,” said Carl Olofson, research vice president, application development and deployment, IDC. “There was a time when most IT users interacted with specialised applications while sitting at a desk, and only 'knowledge workers' dealt with general enterprise information. These days, advances in technology, more expansive job descriptions, and pressure to use timely business intelligence has greatly expanded the range of people needing enterprise information, and they need it well beyond the confines of their offices, and outside of 'normal business hours'.  With the latest SQL Anywhere release, Sybase iAnywhere continues to deliver on its proven track record of delivering a broad range of information to people when they need it, and wherever they happen to be.”

SQL Anywhere 11 boasts over 200 new features and enhancements and continues to redefine functionality typically only found in enterprise-class databases:

•    Performance, Reliability, Scalability by setting a TPC-C performance record for solutions less than US$35,000 through significant multi-user performance enhancements such as index compression and simple statement caching; query performance improvements  such as parallel sort, parallel index scans, and index-only retrieval have also been added;
•    Frontline Analytics provides advanced data analysis in remote locations with enterprise features including embeddable full-text search, regular expression searching, immediately maintained materialised views, read access to mirror servers, and OLAP support;
•    Advanced Synchronisation across occasionally connected networks through a new Relay Server architecture, load balancing and high availability features,  background synchronisation, new synchronisation client platform support including RIM BlackBerry and embedded Linux and support for MySQL;
•    Developer Freedom to use development tools and technologies of choice. SQL Anywhere 11 extends its broad support for languages and platforms with external stored procedures written in .NET and Perl, full .NET 3.5 support (ADO.NET 3.5 provider, Entity Framework and LINQ support), Visual Studio 2008 integration, and enhanced support for PHP, Perl, and Python.

In related news, Sybase iAnywhere also announced TPC-C results demonstrating that high performance on inexpensive hardware is easy to achieve when using SQL Anywhere. Additionally, the company announced plans to target the next generation of web developers with SQL Anywhere Web Edition.