Sybase announces Warehouse WORKS - framework tailored for client/server data warehousing.

EMERYVILLE, Calif.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Nov. 29, 1994--Sybase Inc., The Enterprise Client/Server Company(TM), Tuesday announced Warehouse WORKS(TM), a comprehensive framework for client/server-based data warehousing.

Increasingly, customers are combining the benefits of a central data

-- The industry's leading interoperability solutions for integrating heterogeneous data and platforms (see Meta Group Survey results on page 2).

-- Exceptional high-speed access to data through a family of SYBASE(R) server products.

-- The ability to integrate of best-of-breed products, including 125+ certified tools.

Warehouse WORKS incorporates SYBASE products now successfully in use with customers' data warehouse applications. These include SQL Server(TM), Navigation Server(TM), Replication Server(TM), and Enterprise CONNECT(TM). Also part of this framework is Sybase's new IQ Accelerator(TM) software for enhanced query performance, announced today. (See Sybase's IQ Accelerator press release, dated Nov. 29, for more information.)

"Client/server data warehousing is a highly effective means to give knowledge workers the information they need to make strategic business decisions. But it carries a major challenge in managing data across a range of heterogeneous databases, hardware, and software," said Mike Forster, president of MDI, a Sybase company. "With Warehouse WORKS, Sybase offers customers an integrated suite of data management and interoperability solutions, providing users the fast data access they need...when and where they need it."

Warehouse WORKS Framework

Sybase's Warehouse WORKS framework is designed specifically to address four key elements of the data warehouse process for client/server environments: data assembly, data transformation, data distribution, and data access.

The area of data assembly requires a comprehensive interoperability solution to receive data distributed throughout the enterprise. This includes legacy data currently stored on mainframe systems in a variety of formats and databases as well as new data generated by client/server systems.

The Enterprise CONNECT family of interoperability products from Sybase's MDI subsidiary supports transparent heterogeneous access to more than 20 IBM Mainframe and non-IBM data sources. Sybase's leadership in this area is reflected by a recent Meta Group survey of 152 data warehouse users. Enterprise CONNECT was their number one choice -- by a two-to-one ratio over the nearest competitor.

Data transformation, in which operational data is modified to support decision-making, is the most complex component of data warehousing and typically requires a variety of tailored approaches. To support customers' transformation requirements, Sybase is taking a three-pronged approach:

-- Leverage the interoperability of Enterprise CONNECT.

-- Work closely with partners who specialize in data extraction, transformation, cleansing, and data modeling.

-- Provide consulting services to develop solutions that are customized to users' specific needs.

Sybase's Replication Server plays a key role in the area of data distribution. It delivers changes in operational information to both central and local data warehouses, also known as data marts. Sybase's Replication Server software is the industry's leading data replication solution with more than 550 customers.

Today, Replication Server can distribute data from a SQL Server database to a range of other data sources. In 1995, Sybase is expected to roll out products that can replicate data from heterogeneous data sources, both local-area network and mainframe.

Together, the combination of SQL Server with the IQ Accelerator and/or Navigation Server addresses another critical component of a data warehouse system, data access. Many customers have already built data warehouse applications based on SQL Server 10. With the addition of IQ Accelerator, SQL Server's performance is enhanced further to support large numbers of users who want to interactively query the database -- often defining and redefining their questions based on the last answer they received.

Sybase's Navigation Server provides scalable parallel processing capabilities optimized to support both queries and large bulk operations such as reporting, list management, and data maintenance.

Sybase Inc.

Sybase Inc. (NASDAQ:SYBS) is one of the fastest growing suppliers of client/server-based software products and services for on-line enterprise-wide applications. Sybase's integrated family of software includes database servers, tools, connectivity and systems management products, providing complete desktop-to-mainframe solutions. Headquartered in Emeryville, Sybase markets its products worldwide through its direct sales force, telesales, distributors, OEMs, VARs and Systems Integrators.

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Note to Editors: IQ Accelerator, Bit-Wise, Warehouse WORKS, Enterprise CONNECT, Navigation Server, Replication Server, SYBASE, System 10, SQL Server, and The Enterprise Client/Server Company are trademarks of Sybase Inc. All other company and product names may be trademarks of the respective companies with which that are associated.

CONTACT: Blanc & Otus

Rebecca Hurst or Susan Shulman, 415/512-0500