Bradmark product bolsters Sybase database
January 16, 2007
Bradmark Technologies, a company still offering HP 3000 IMAGE/SQL utility DBGENERAL, has announced Surveillance 3.0.6, the company's tracking system for Sybase databases. The new release extends support for Sybase’s Replication Server by including latency monitoring within Surveillance. There is also support for Sybase Mirror Activator, a feature that when used with EMC storage, allows for immediate switchover to a backup database.
Bradmark’s real-time monitors will display historical information as well. The history of this database alternative to Oracle, SQL Server and IBM's DB2 is nearly as interesting. Ten years ago Sybase was the number one contender to Oracle. Five years ago the company had slipped to "the fourth place contender in a three party contest."
But the database company has avoided the fate of Informix, acquired by IBM, and even earned an IT Week spot in the “Top 100 Vendors of 2006” for its leadership in database management technology. Bradmark has invested a good share of its future in the Sybase community, even while maintaining a place in the HP 3000 toolset.
And what of the relevance of Sybase in the future of IT choices, given that four other SQL options have greater adoption among the migrating 3000 customer? Even Eloquence, the option from Marxmeier Software that works like IMAGE/SQL and includes a migration tool from 3000 databases counts a bigger installed base of former 3000 customers.
Sybase is healthy, having posted its largest-ever operating margin for a second quarter during 2006. But a 2005 survey of market share ranked the database as fifth overall with 3 percent of share, behind IBM, Oracle, Microsoft and NCR's Teradata.
Whatever the pickup rate among 3000 sites, Bradmark is aiming its arrows at what some might call the fifth leading alternative solution among 3000 users, and perhaps fourth largest in the overall IT market. Online database news provider DBTA quoted Bradmark's vice president of technical services Tom Callaghan, as saying "We have made a strategic commitment to be a top strategic partner to Sybase.”
Sybase solutions run on HP's Unix, other Unix implementations, Windows and Linux. Those are the short list of destinations for HP 3000 sites doing a migration or transition (looking for an off-the-shelf solution to replace MPE/iX apps.)