2010 Peer Insights Report for ISV Executives - SAP · Since meter readers are essentially cash...

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PEER INSIGHTS REPORT

www.sybase.com/ianywhere

2010 Peer Insights Report For ISV ExecutivesDatabase Design Decisions that Helped 5 ISV Execs Control Costs and Protect Margins

0205081011

In this Report...ISV ExEcuTIVES PEER INSIGHTS

DVTel: Millions of Transactions Written Daily with No Database Management Burden withBertWheeler,DirectorofEngineering,AccessControl

Neptune Technology Group Inc: Switching to an Embedded Database at Low Risk, Low Cost withJonGreisz,DirectorofSoftwareandSystemsEngineering

Mobile Computing Corporation (MCC): Embedded Database Wins the “Build vs. Buy” Debate withCamillePeters,GeneralManagerandCalinPleava,Director,ResearchandDevelopment

Trimble: Embedded Database Best Suited for Enterprise Mobility withMatthewBrogie,DirectorofProductManagement

HealthWyse: Embedded Database Brings Development and Cost Efficiencies withAndrewS.Braunstein,CTO

PLuS...

Making The Choice to Embed:WhattheAnalystsSay...Page01

Managing Margin Erosion:6HiddenCoststhatReduceYourMargin...Page04

The “FREE” Myth Debunked:ACostComparisonofDatabaseOptions...Page07

Top 5 Considerations for Mobilizing ...Page09

Questions To Ask When Choosing an Embedded Technology Partner ...Page12

Making The Choice to Embed: WhattheAnalystsSayHIGHLy-ScaLabLE, LOwER-cOST SOLuTIONS: THE RIGHT cHOIcE FOR cuRRENT budGET REaLITIES aNd FuTuRE PROOFING

Whatapplicationdevelopmentdecisionhassurgedtobecomeatoppriorityformanyoftoday'sISVexecutives?Thedatabasedecision.

Widevariancesinperformanceandcostamongtoday’sdatabasesolutionsareforcingISVexecutivestochoosewisely.MarkettrendsrevealmoreandmoreISVsarechoosinganembeddeddatabasesolution.

Globally,themarketforembeddeddatabasesolutionshasgrown,with12%annualglobalgrowthfrom2007-2008asmeasuredbyindustryanalystfirmIDC.Whatisdrivingthisgrowth?AccordingtoIDC,"Thecontinuingneedforpackaged,zeroadministrationsolutionstobedeployedinbusinessesandprofessionalofficeswheretherearenoITstaffwillcontinuetodriveembeddedDBMSgrowth.Furthermore,theadditionofbillionsofdevicestothenetworkedgewillaccelerate,drivingdemandfordatabasesthatrunonmobiledevices,synchronizationsoftware,anddatabasesthatmanageandcoordinatethedatarunningonmobiledevices.EmbeddedDBMShasabigstakeinthisarea."1

Thisreportprovidesinsightintotheimportanceofselectingatechnologypartnerthatisfutureproofaswellasconsiderationsformobilizinganembeddeddatabaseapplication.

Whatarethekeysuccessfactorsofembeddingadatabasesolution?IDCidentifieszeroadministration,scalabilityandbroadsupportofmanydatatypes.TheISVsprofiledinthisreportagree,havingrealizedtheadvantagesthatthesecharacteristicsbring.

ThisreportdetailsthevariousbenefitsthatfiveISVshaveexperiencedsincemakingthedecisiontoembed,withaspecialfocusonthecost-savingrealitiesthatinfluencedtheirdecision.*1 Idc, worldwide Embedded dbMS 2010-2013 Forecast and 2008 Vendor Shares, doc # 221438, January 2010

It seems likely that applications and tools with embedded databases that require no DBA support will find increasing favor. – IDC

“”

01 | PEERInSIGHTS REPORT

Peer Insight #1—dVTel: Millions of Transactions Written Daily with No Database Management BurdencHaLLENGE

Process millions of transactions per day using a single database Foronecustomer,theDVTelapplicationdrivesthelargestsingle-unifiedaccesscontrolsystemintheworld.Thisimplementationprocessesone-to-threemilliontransactionsperday,whichtranslatestohundredsoftransactionspersecond.

TheaccesscontroldivisionofDVTelswitchedtoaSQLAnywhereLinuxarchitecture.Aspartoftheswitch,DVTelwantedtoembedanenterprise-caliberdatabaseintheirapplicationwhichwouldallowenhancedsecurityoveropen-sourceoptions—minimizingdevelopmentcostsandlearningcurveastheyswitchedtothenewdatabasewasanimportantconsideration.

SOLuTION

“WeselectedSybaseSQLAnywherebecauseweneededahigh-performanceenterprise-leveldatabasebackedbyacompanywithaprovensupportinfrastructure,”saysWheeler.Anopensourcedatabasewasnotaviableoptionduetotherequirementsofsupportingmission-criticalaccesscontrolimplementationsandatsuchahighvolumeoftransactions.

Whilecomparingcosts,WheelerdiscoveredtheongoinglicensingfeesrequiredbyseveralofthelargedatabasevendorswouldultimatelymandateapriceincreaseoftheDVTelapplication,but“withnoupsideindatabaseperformance,”hesays.“Fromacostandfeaturemix,theSybasedatabasesolutionwonhandsdown.Itwastheonlysolutionthatallowedustoprotectourmarginwithoutsacrificingperformance.WetestedtheSybasedatabasewith800transactionspersecond,farbeyondourneeds,andexperiencednoissues.”

WheelerpointsoutthedevelopmentcostsandlearningcurveduringtheswitchtoSQLAnywhereonLinuxwerekepttoaminimum.“ProceduresandtriggerstranslatedeasilyintoSQLAnywhere.Infact,thedatabasewastheeasiestpieceofthemigration,”hesays.

NaME: BERTWHEELER

TITLE: DIRECTOROFEnGInEERInG,

ACCESSCOnTROL

cOMPaNy: DVTEL

Background

DVTelisaproviderofIP,videoand

accesscontrolsoftwaresolutions.

InstallationsintheAccessControl

industryinclude:applicationsthat

powerbiometriccontrols,card

readers,videomonitoring,andvideo

analyticssystems.Customersinclude

Fortune50companies,U.S.and

foreignmilitaryagencies,medical

organizations,schoolsandcolleges.


Bert’s Advice for ISVs SERVIcE cuSTOMERS bETTER by addRESSING THEIR REaL NEEdS “Whencustomersspecifythatapplicationsmustutilizetheirexistingdatabaseplatform,whatitreallymeansisthattheydon’twanttoaddadditionalburdentotheirITinfrastructure.Thedatabaseisnottheissueatall;it’sthepresumptionthatanewdatabasewillfurthertaxtheirITresources.Withanembeddeddatabaseattheheartofourapplication,it’sbeeneasyforustowininstallationsbydemonstratingthattheapplicationhasno—absolutelyzero—impactoncustomerITresourcesbecausethereisnomaintenancetheyneedtoperform.”

REcOGNIzE THaT buRdENING cuSTOMERS cOMES wITH REPERcuSSIONS WheelerpointsoutthatitistheISVthatultimatelypaysforoffloadingdatabasemanagementtocustomers,inthewayofmarginerosion,reducedcompetitiveness,orincreasedsalescomplexity.

“Offloadingthedatabaseinstallationandmaintenanceisaburdentocustomers.Ifyourapplicationputsthisburdenonthem,youhavetofindotherwaystomakeyourproductmoreattractive,usuallybycompensatingforthisburdenwithalowerpricepoint.

Asatangibleexample,wecompetewithsomeapplicationsthatinclude1000+pageinstallationguides,mostofwhichareinstructionsforinstallingandmaintainingthedatabase.Incontrast,wehavenodatabaseinstallationandmaintenancedocumentation.Whichsolutionismoreappealingtothecustomer?”Bertseesabetterout-of-boxexperienceasawaytodifferentiate.

“Embeddingadatabaseintotheapplicationitselfsimplyreducesthecomplexityofthesale,becausethereisnodecision-makingrequiredfortheselection,installationandmaintenanceofadatabase.”

IMPROVE THE aPPLIcaTION ITSELF wITH a FEaTuRE-RIcH, RELIabLE daTabaSE “Lookforwaystoimproveyourapplicationbyembeddinglogicintothedatabase.Asanexample,weusetheenterprisefeaturesofSQLAnywhereasareal-timedrivingengineoftheapplication,actuallyminimizingourGUIdevelopmentasaresult.Forouraccesscontrolapplication,it’stheuser’spressingofanenterkeywhichfiresoffaseriesoftriggersthatcanopendoors,movecamerasorsendoutsecurityalertsinrealtime,withnoadditionalGUImanipulationrequired.”


2 MaJOR bENEFITS FOR ISV cuSTOMERS

REDuCE CuSToMER ACQuISITIoN CoSTS Byembeddingadatabaseyouhavetheabilitytolowerthetotalcostofownershipofyourapplication.Yourcustomerswillnotsuffertheaddedexpenseofpurchasingathirdpartydatabase,ortheextraefforttosetupanewdatabaseforyourapplication,makingyoursolutionmorecompetitiveinthemarket.Youcanalsoretaintheprofitmarginfromthedatabaselicensesthatwouldotherwisegotoadatabasevendor.Withanembeddeddatabaseyoucanpriceaccordinglyandseeyourtoplinerevenuegoup.

IMPRoVE youR CuSToMER'S ouT-oF-Box ExPERIENCE Becauseanembeddeddatabaseinstallsunderthecoversalongwithyourapplication,youcaneliminatethetime-consumingtaskofsettingupanexternaldatabase.Thiscanbeespeciallyimportantintheevaluationstagebecauseitallowsyourprospectivecustomertofocusexclusivelyonthevalueofyourapplicationwithouthavingtopurchase,installorconfigureonexternaldatabase.

Managing Margin Erosion: 6 Hidden Costs that Reduce Your Margin Itemizingthe6hiddencostsofdesigningapplicationsthatsupportmultipledatabasesillustrateshoweasilyanISV’scostscanswell.Often,ISVswhobelievetheyare“runninglean”actuallysuffertheseinterrelatedinefficienciesthatmaynotbenoticeableduringeverydayoperations.

HERE aRE THE 6 HIddEN cOSTS—aNd THE PRObLEMS THEy cauSE:

1. Engineering costs of supporting multiple databases Requiringengineerstodeveloptherequisiteworkingknowledgeofmultipledatabases(bothinitiallearningandongoinglearningtostayproficient)pullstheireffortawayfromtheprofitableactivityofapplicationdesign.Byembedding,youcontrolthedatabasethatmanagesyourapplicationdata.Youwillknowtheexactversionofthespecificdatabaseyourapplicationsupports,whichallowsyoutodevelopandtestwiththatonespecificversion.Relyingonexternaldatabasesoftenmeansdevelopingandtestingwithalargelistofdatabasesaswellasmultipleversionsofeachdatabase.

2. Costs of optimizing the application for each database Inadditiontogainingknowledgeofmultipledatabases,engineeringteamsmustensuretheapplicationintegratesandoperatesatoptimallevelsofefficiencywitheachdatabasesupported.

3. Extended release schedules Withmultipledatabasestolearn,design,optimizeandtroubleshoot,thedevelopmentscheduleiselongatedwhichresultsinextendedreleaseschedulesand,ultimately,longertime-to-revenues.

4. Increased sales cycle Anotherfactorwhichpushesrevenuerealizationoutfurtheristhedelaystodecisionmakingthatoccurwhenyourendcustomersareforcedtoevaluate,selectandimplementathirdpartydatabaseontheirown.Byremovingtheexternaldatabasefromtheequation,salesopportunitiesarenotheldupwhileyourprospectevaluatesdatabasesor,muchworse,waitstohearfromanotherdepartmentthatholdsfinalapprovalontheexternaldatabasepurchase.


5. Increased customer support for multiple versions of multiple databases Requiringthatyoursupportstaffbecomeexpertsonmultipleversionsofmultipledatabasesputsyouatthemercyofnewdatabasereleaseschedules,forcingyoutoinvesttimeinlearningaboutchangesandenhancementsbeforeyourcustomersencounterproblemsandissueswiththechanges.

6. Risk of damage to customer relationships Dedicatedsupportstafftendtoofferfaster,highqualityresolutiontocustomerissues.Increasingthenumberofdatabasesolutionstobemasteredcandilutetheexpertise,burdeningthesupportteamandultimatelyjeopardizingtheservicelevelsandqualityofsupportforcustomers.

Peer Insight #2—Neptune Technology Group Inc: Switching to an Embedded Database at Low Risk, Low CostcHaLLENGES

unstable database was costly—for Neptune and their customers Databaseinstabilitywascausingproblemsforneptune’sclients.Itwasnotuncommonforneptune’sengineerstospenddaysresolvingissueswithunloadingofdatafrommeterreadingdevicestotheircustomers'billingsystems,pullingthemawayfromtheircorework.

Sincemeterreadersareessentiallycashregistersforutilities,andcustomerscan’tbebilledaccuratelywithoutreadingthemeter,anydelaysincapturingdataimmediatelyimpactscashflowandcausesaccountingandcustomersupportcoststorise.

Database was not scalable Whenoneofneptune’scustomerswasscheduledtoscaleupfrom400usersto1000,neptunerealizedtheircurrentdatabasesolution(aproprietarydatabaseformatfromasmalldatabaseprovider)wouldnotbeuptothetask.

SOLuTION

neptuneswitchedtoanembeddeddatabase,selectingSQLAnywhereafterevaluatingotheroptions.“WeselectedSQLAnywhereforitsreliability,dataintegrity,performance,andsynchronizationcapability,”saysGreisz.“Thedatabaseisperfectforsmalltomid-sizeimplementationsandevenscalesuptolargedeployments.”

PerhapsthebesttestamenttothestabilityoftheSQLAnywheredatabaseisitsabilitytoprovidereliableoutcomesforFieldnet®users.JohnSala,SystemsConsultantatAlleghenyEnergy(aFieldnet®customerwith250fieldworkers)commentsonthisreliability,saying,“WiththeFieldnet®system,runningSQLAnywhere’sUltraLitedatabase,Idon’tthinkwe’vehadasinglecrash.”Forthisclient,theentiredatatransferprocesstakesabout20secondsperhandheld,withasmanyas250handheldsfullyunloadedin20minutes.

NaME: JOnGREISz

TITLE: DIRECTOROFSOFTWARE

AnDSYSTEMSEnGInEERInG

cOMPaNy: nEPTUnE

TECHnOLOGYGROUPInC.

Background

Fieldnet®isamobileapplication

fromneptuneTechnologyGroup

thatautomatesfieldservicework.

Fortheirutilityindustryclients,this

workincludesthecollectionofenergy

usagefrommeters,wherefield

employeescollectmeterreadsfrom

customerseachdayusinghandheld

devices.Fieldnet®automates

theentireprocess,includingthe

collection,consolidationand

transmissionofmeterdatatotheir

customers’informationsystems

forbillgeneration.


Jon’s Advice for ISVs LIMIT NuMbER OF daTabaSES yOu SuPPORT “Weliketohaveamasteryofthedatabaseswesupport.Youcan’tachievethattothefullestextentifyousupportmultipledatabases.Limitingsupporttooneor,atmost,twodatabaseshasengineering,maintenance,andtechnicalsupportbenefits.”

cHaLLENGE yOuR “cOST OF SwITcHING” aSSuMPTIONS “WhenswitchingtoSQLAnywhere,weoriginallyexpectedtrainingtobeaproblematicissue,becausewealreadyhadaworkingsysteminstalledonthousandsofclienthandhelds,”saysGreisz.“Asitturnedout,weexperiencedvirtuallynotrainingissues,aquicklearningcurve,andacompleteswitchoverachievedinamatterofweeks.”

Thisincludedoneweekofconsultinghelponthenewdatabasedesign,andoneweekoftraining.“WehadanapplicationupandrunningandourteamtrainedonSQLAnywhere,allwithinsixweeks,”Greiszreports.

cONSIdER ONGOING MaINTENaNcE cOSTS “Whendecidingonwhichdatabasetosupport,Irecommendyouasktwoquestions.First,howlongwillittaketolearnandimplement?Second,whatkindofongoingresourceswillitrequiretomanageandsupport?Youmightbeabletoaffordtheupfrontcostsofswitching.Butdoyoufullyunderstand—andcanyoucostjustify—theongoingmaintenancecosts?”

STay LEaN wITH LOw-cOST SuPPORT “Withclientsofvarioussizes,rangingfrom12usersto1300users,manyofourclientshavenoITdepartment.Supportcallsofallcomplexityroutetous.ThisiswhereSQLAnywhereself-managingfeatureshelpsustokeepoursupportcostsundercontrol.”

aLwayS LOOk FOR OPPORTuNITIES TO REducE cOSTS “Besideshavingapricepointthatwaslowerthanourolddatabase,ouroverallsupportcostshavegonedown.Atthesametimeourcustomersatisfactionhasgonewayup.BecauseofthesuccesswithFieldnet®,neptunehasgoneontouseSQLAnywhereinotherproductlinesincludingARBn_SIGHTMobile,Hybrid,andFixedBase.”


OEM/ISV LIcENSE FEE cOMPaRISON

cOMPETITIVE FEaTuRE cOMPaRISON

The “FREE” Myth debunked: A Cost Comparison of Database OptionsThe “Pay to Grow” Conundrum Afreedatabaseplatformdoesn’talwaysmeanit’sthelowestcostsolutionforyourbusiness.Freedatabaseplatformstypicallylevychargeswhenyoursolutionexpands.Thenumberofservers,numberofusers,theadditionofnewfeatures,andthecostandsupportultimatelyimpactyourrealcosts.

Freedatabasesolutionsareasurefirewaytobecometrappedina“paytogrow”scenario.Considertherealcoststhatcandevelopwhenyourselectiondoesnotfactoringrowth.SupposeMicrosoft’sExpressdatabaseisacceptablefor90%ofyourdeployments,9%requireaWorkgroupEdition,andlessthan1%requiresamoreadvancededition.Asthetablebelowshows,focusingonlyonthe90%ofdeploymentsthatcoulduseafreedatabasemayresultina36%higheroveralllicensecostwhenalldatabasedeploymentsarefactoredin!

The “Feature Gap” in Free Databases Sooftenthefeaturesleftoutoffreeorlow-costdatabasesaredesignedtoseverelylimitdatabaseperformance,scalability,reliabilityandsecurity.Thatisbecauseitisimportantforapplicationstohitdatabaseconstraintsinorderforthe“PaytoGrow”businessmodeltowork.ItisoftendifficultforISVstoseetheimportanceofthesefeaturesearlyoninthedevelopmentcyclebecausetestcasesoftendonotmimictheperformanceandscalabilityrequirementsofrealcustomerenvironmentstodayorinthenearfuture.

RO=ReadOnlyPO=PurchasableOnly

Personal/Express

WorkGroup

Standard Advanced/Enterprise

Total

Number of Servers

Number of Users

SQL Server Cost

SQL Anywhere Cost

Savings

1,000

1

$0

$71k

($71k)

100

10

$88k

$71k

$17k

10

100

$138k

$60k

$78k

1

1,000

$58k

$6k

$52k

1,111

4,000

$284k

$209k

$75k

Pers

onal

/Ex

pres

s

Wor

kgro

up

Stan

dard

Adva

nced

/En

terp

rise

Tota

l

Number of Deployments

Average Number of Users/Deployments

SQL Server Cost

SQL Anywhere Cost

Savings

1,000

1

$0

$71k

($71k)

100

10

$88k

$71k

$17k

10

100

$138k

$60k

$78k

1

1,000

$58k

$6k

$52k

1,111

4,000

$284k

$209k

$75k

SQL Anywhere TPC/C BenchmarkPerformance:Cost Performance:Total System Cost:Number of Users:Database Size:SQL Anywhere Version:Hardware:

20,705 tpmC$0.85/tpmC

$17,54116,500120 GB

11.0.0Dell PowerEdge 2950 III

Wor

kgro

up

Stan

dard

Ente

rpris

e

Std

One

Std

Ente

rpris

e

SQL Anywhere Microsoft Oracle

No Limit On Memory (RAM) Use

AWE Support

Compression

Resource Governor

Parallel Index Operations

Indexed Views

Enhanced Read Ahead And Scan

Can Act As Colsolidated In Sync

Can Sync In Oracle

Database Encryption

Auditing

View Matching

Full Query Optimizer

Profiling

High Availability

RO RO

PO

PO

PO

PO

PO

•

•

•

•

•

•

•

•

•

•

•

•

•

•

•

Benchmark results:

Best price/performance of any system under $60,000•

Highest absolute performance of any system under $30,000•

1• st TPC/C benchmark with total cost under $20,000

s Ql a ny Where tpc /c benchmarkPerformance: 20,705 tpmC

Price/performance: $0.85/tpmC

Total system cost: $17,541

Number of users: 16,500

Database size: 120 GB

SQL Anywhere version: 11.0.0

Hardware: Dell PowerEdge 2950 III

Wor

kgro

up

Stan

dard

Adva

nced



AWE Support

Compression

Resource Governor


Indexed Views


Can Act As Consolidated In Sync

Can Sync to Oracle

Database Encryption

Auditing

View Matching


Profiling

High Availability

RO RO

PO

PO

PO

PO

PO

Wor

kgro

up

Stan

dard

Adva

nced

Std

One

Std

Ente

rpris

e

Expr

ess

Wor

kgro

up

Stan

dard

Ente

rpris

e

Personal/Express

WorkGroup

Standard Advanced/Enterprise

Total

Number of Servers

Number of Users

SQL Server Cost

SQL Anywhere Cost

Savings

1,000

1

$0

$71k

($71k)

100

10

$88k

$71k

$17k

10

100

$138k

$60k

$78k

1

1,000

$58k

$6k

$52k

1,111

4,000

$284k

$209k

$75k

Pers

onal

/Ex

pres

s

Wor

kgro

up

Stan

dard

Adva

nced

/En

terp

rise

Tota

l

Number of Deployments

Average Number of Users/Deployments

SQL Server Cost

SQL Anywhere Cost

Savings

1,000

1

$0

$71k

($71k)

100

10

$88k

$71k

$17k

10

100

$138k

$60k

$78k

1

1,000

$58k

$6k

$52k

1,111

4,000

$284k

$209k

$75k

SQL Anywhere TPC/C BenchmarkPerformance:Cost Performance:Total System Cost:Number of Users:Database Size:SQL Anywhere Version:Hardware:

20,705 tpmC$0.85/tpmC

$17,54116,500120 GB

11.0.0Dell PowerEdge 2950 III

Wor

kgro

up

Stan

dard

Ente

rpris

e

Std

One

Std

Ente

rpris

e



AWE Support

Compression

Resource Governor


Indexed Views


Can Act As Colsolidated In Sync

Can Sync In Oracle

Database Encryption

Auditing

View Matching


Profiling

High Availability

RO RO

PO

PO

PO

PO

PO

•

•

•

•

•

•

•

•

•

•

•

•

•

•

•

Benchmark results:

Best price/performance of any system under $60,000•

Highest absolute performance of any system under $30,000•

1• st TPC/C benchmark with total cost under $20,000

s Ql a ny Where tpc /c benchmarkPerformance: 20,705 tpmC

Price/performance: $0.85/tpmC

Total system cost: $17,541

Number of users: 16,500

Database size: 120 GB

SQL Anywhere version: 11.0.0

Hardware: Dell PowerEdge 2950 III

Wor

kgro

up

Stan

dard

Adva

nced



AWE Support

Compression

Resource Governor


Indexed Views


Can Act As Consolidated In Sync

Can Sync to Oracle

Database Encryption

Auditing

View Matching


Profiling

High Availability

RO RO

PO

PO

PO

PO

PO

Wor

kgro

up

Stan

dard

Adva

nced

Std

One

Std

Ente

rpris

e

Expr

ess

Wor

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up

Stan

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Ente

rpris

e


Peer Insight #3— Mobile computing corporation (Mcc): Embedded Database Wins the “Build vs. Buy” Debate cHaLLENGES

Increased complexity of product offering MCCwaspreparingforabigjumpinthecomplexityoftheirbusinesslogicinordertoexpandserviceinthefieldserviceindustry.Thisjumprepresenteda1000%increaseinthevolumeofdataflowanddataprocessedontheircustomers’handheldunits.

over-stretched engineering efforts Inpreparationforthisserviceexpansion,itbecameclearthattheMCClegacysystem,whichusedaflatfileformatdatabase,wasnotsuitable.ThemarketopportunitycoincidedwithagrowingstrategicshiftwithinthecompanytorefocusMCC’sengineeringeffortsontheircorecompetency:dataflowandbusinesslogic.Thisinvolvedasearchtooff-loadtheengineeringburdenofbuildingallaspectsofeverysolutionfromscratch.SelectvendorswererequiredtoprovidethetechnologysolutionstoMCCthatwerenon-core.

SOLuTION

MCCbeganlookingatembeddingadatabaseserverintotheirmobileapplication.Primaryselectioncriteriaincludedasmallfootprint,requiringlowCPUusageonthehandheldsoasnottohinderdeviceperformancedespitethecomplexityofthesolution.Equallyimportant,thefeaturesetonthehandhelddatabasehadtomatchthatoftheserverside.Lastly,intheirevaluationofoptions,MCCconcludedthatSQLAnywherewastheonlyproductthatmettheirreplicationrequirements,whichtheydeemedanimportantconsiderationforcapacitytoscaleinthefuture.

Camille’s Advice for ISVsFOcuS ENGINEERING EFFORTS ON acTIVITIES THaT add VaLuE “Thevalueweprovideforcustomersliesintheapplicationswebuild,”saysPeters.“Inadditiontoitbeingcostprohibitivetobuildourowndatabasemodule,doingsowouldhaveaddednoadditionalvaluetoourcustomers.Wedecidedtoembedadatabasesolutionthatwasalreadyproven,andfocusoureffortsonbuildingthebestpossibleapplication.”

FuTuRE PROOF! “Selectapartnerwhomyoubelievein,andwhohasthereliabilityandroadmapthatwillallowyoutopersistasaleader,”Petersadvises.“Youneedadatabaseenginethatkeepspaceastechnologiesadvance,particularlyinmobileapplicationswherenetworksarebecomingfasterandusersaremoresophisticated.Yourpartner’sabilitytokeeppaceultimatelyallowsyoutostaycompetitive.”

LET yOuR PaRTNER’S REPuTaTION FOR quaLITy HELP yOu “SELL” “WhenourITsavvycustomershearwerunaSybasedatabaseittendstoquicklyalleviateanyconcernstheyhaveaboutperformance,reliability,high-volumeupdatesandtransfers,”saysPeters.“Thedatabasehelpsuscommunicatethevalueandreliabilityofourapplication.”

NaME: CAMILLEPETERS

TITLE: GEnERALMAnAGER

cOMPaNy: MOBILECOMPUTInG

CORPORATIOn

NaME: CALInPLEAVA

TITLE: DIRECTOR,RESEARCH

AnDDEVELOPMEnT

cOMPaNy: MOBILECOMPUTInG

CORPORATIOn

Background

MobileComputingCorporation

(MCC)deliversmobileapplications

tostreamlinebusinessflowfor

companieswithfieldserviceworkers.

MCChistoricallybuiltbothhardware

andsoftwarecomponentsoftheir

fieldservicesolutions.newmarket

opportunitiesandtheincreased

complexityofthesolutionoffered

forcedthemtore-evaluate

thisapproach.


Top 5 considerations for Mobilizing1. FOcuS yOuR EFFORTS ON acTIVITIES THaT add VaLuE AsCamillePetersofMCCsays,thevalueanISVprovidescomesfromapplicationexpertiseandspecificdomainknowledge.Timespentondesigningyourownmobiledataplatformisnottimewellspent.Divertingengineeringresourcesawayfromyourcoreproductinordertobuildandsupportyourownmobiledataplatforminanunnecessary—nottomentioncostly—undertaking,giventhebreadthofprovenmobileplatformsavailabletoday.

2. daTa MaNaGEMENT IS INTEGRaL TO PERFORMaNcE aNd THE cuSTOMER ExPERIENcE Inenterprisemobility,thesuccessofamobileapplicationdeploymenthingesonthesatisfactionleveloftheendusers.Applicationperformanceiscentraltothiscustomerexperience.Sub-standardperformanceinthehandsoftheenduserwillresultinlowadoptionratesinanyenterprisedeployment—leavingyourclient’sITdepartmenttoshouldertheblame.Deliveringahigh-performance,datarichapplicationwithintheconstraintsofmobiledevicesisaspecialistjob.Lookforapartnerwithrecognizedindustry-leadingtechnology.

3. cOMPLExITIES OF daTa SyNcHRONIzaTION dEMaNd THaT yOu PLaN FOR SuccESS Amobiledatabaseisjustonepieceofthemobiledatamanagementpuzzle.Datasynchronizationisakeypartofanymobiledataplatform.Aswirelessnetworksdriveupcustomerexpectationsforcurrentdata,performancedemandskeepescalating.

AsMatthewBrogiefromTrimblepointsoutinPeerInsight#4(onpage10),manyISVsactuallyunderestimatethecomplexityofexchangingdatawithenterprisesystems.It’seasy,forexample,tolosefocusonyourfutureneedswhenyoursynchronizationtestcriteriaislimitedtosimple,demoenvironmenttrials.ManyISVsfindouttoolatethatwhatworkedinacontrolledenvironmentsimplydoesn’tscaleinalarge-scaleenterprisedeployment.

Createyourownpathforsuccessbylookingfordemonstratedsuccessinlarge-scaledeploymentsamongyourtechnologypartners.Youwantproofthattheirsolutionwillenableyourapplicationtoscale.

4. SET OuT TO cONTROL SuPPORT cOSTS FROM THE STaRT Solvingapplicationissuesinamobileenvironmentwithouttherightsupportisachallengingandcostlyundertaking.Choosingasingleembeddedmobiledataplatformminimizesyourinvestmentinsupportcosts,especiallywhenyourpartnerhasacomprehensivesupportinfrastructurebehindtheirtechnology,andaproficiencyinmobiledevicemanagement.

5. kEEP yOuR OPTIONS OPEN Withthemobiledevicespacechangingsorapidly,youdon'twanttocutyourselfofffrommarketopportunitiesbecauseyourapplicationisconstrainedtoanyoneparticulardevice.Forexample,youmaynothaveaBlackBerry®componenttoyourapplicationtoday.Butwhatabout18monthsfromnow?Toprotectyourownabilitytogrow,ensureyourpartnertechnologiesaccommodateawiderangeofmobiledevices.


Peer Insight #4—Trimble: Embedded Database Best Suited for Enterprise Mobility cHaLLENGE

Meet the Demanding Performance and Scalability Needs of Large Enterprises “ForTrimble,it’sneverbeenaquestionofwhetherornottoembedadatabase,”saysBrogie."Becauseourapplicationsarerichinbusinessprocessesandfunctionality,theyrequireanembeddeddatabaseaspartoftheapplicationratherthanflatfilesortransmittingdataaspartofmessagequeues."

ServingenterprisecustomerswiththousandsofusersmeansTrimblefacestheongoingchallengeofaddressingcustomerconcernsaboutdatabaseperformanceinenterprisedeploymentsthatarelikelytoscalesignificantly.

“Wehaveregularlychallengedourownarchitecturedecisions,toensurewehavetherequiredperformanceandscalabilitybuiltintooursolution,andalsotodemonstratethatourpartnertechnologiesdeliverthebestoutcomesforcustomers,”Brogieexplains.

SOLuTION

BrogieexplainsthattheembeddedSQLAnywheredatabaseinTrimble’sapplicationsconsistentlydemonstratesfasterqueryandsynchronizationtimesinpractice,butalsoindirectcomparativetestsagainstotherdatabasesolutionsspecifiedbyTrimblecustomers.“Thesetestscontinuetoshowus,andourcustomersthatwehavetherightdatabaseattheheartofourapplications,”Brogiereports.

“What’smore,we’vecomparedcodingcomplexityusingclient-specificdatabasesolutionsversusSQLAnywhere,andshowncustomershoweasyitistomakechangestobusinesslogicwiththeembeddedsolution.Ultimately,wecanbuildcorecomplexbusinesslogicintoourapplicationsfasterandeasierusingembeddedSQLAnywhereasopposedtohavingtocodethelogicourselves.”

Mat’s Advice for ISVs uNdERSTaNd TOP cONcERNS OF c-LEVEL ENTERPRISE cuSTOMERS “TheC-levelbuyeratanenterpriseisconcernedprimarilywithscalabilityandperformanceofyourapplicationwiththeirhigh-volumedatausage.Theywantdemonstratedevidencethattheapplicationwillscaleto,say3,000to5,000userswithnoissues.Price,whilealwaysimportant,becomesasubordinatecriteriatoscalability,soit’simperativeforISVs,withplansofwinningenterprisecustomers,toknowforcertaintheirdatabasewillmeettheneedsofthousandsofusersupdatingthousandsofrecords.”

dO NOT TakE yOuR daTabaSE dEcISION LIGHTLy “AllSQLdatabaseoptionsarenotalike.Recognizethattheso-called“free”databaseoptionsdonotcomeintoplayforISVswhowanttodeliverfeature-richenterprise-classapplicationsbecausethefeature/functionalitylimitationsareanissue,nottomentionlicensingcostswhenyougotomarket.Yourdatabasedecisionshouldbebasedonyourowntestingandreviewofusecasesthatareidentical,notjustsimilar,towhatyouwillbeexperiencinginyourbuildandimplementation.”

NaME: MATTHEWBROGIE

TITLE: DIRECTOROFPRODUCT

MAnAGEMEnT

cOMPaNy: TRIMBLE

Background

TrimbleMRMprovidesMobile

ResourceManagementsolutions

foravarietyofcustomersin

telecommunications,energy,cable

TV,transportation,distribution,field

serviceanddirectstoredelivery(DSD)

environments.SolutionsincludeFleet

Management,Schedule7Dispatch

andMobileProductivityapplications.

Thedatabaseisacorecomponent

totheautomationbenefitsfrom

Trimble’smobileapplications,with

datadrivingavarietyofbackend

workflowsforTrimble’sFortune500

enterprisecustomers.

Trimble’sDSDapplication,

TrimbleDSD,forexample,enables

fieldrepresentativestouse

handhelddevicestoperformdata

synchronizationfromretaillocations

eachday.Onecustomerwillhave

anywherefrom1,000to4,000field

repsperformingtableupdatesfrom

retailstorelocations,usinghandheld

devicesthatcollectmerchandisedata

onthousandsofrecords.


aNTIcIPaTE THE cOMPLExITy OF ENTERPRISE MObILIzaTION PROJEcTS “Iregularlyencounterexamplesofmobilizationprojectsthatfailbecausesomeonehasunderestimatedthecomplexityoftheundertaking.ISVswhowanttocapitalizeonthedemandformobileapplicationsshouldmitigatetheriskwithbestofbreedcoretechnologiessourcedfromvendors.Therightfeature-richtechnologieswillgiveyouthecapabilitytoovercomecomplexitiesinstride,ratherthanhavingtocutcornersordevelopasolutionfromscratchduetotheshortcomingsofthepartnertechnologiesyouchose.”

Peer Insight #5—Healthwyse: Embedded Database Brings Development and Cost Efficiencies cHaLLENGE

Single-source, multi-platform development efficiency HealthwysewantedthemostefficientmeansfordevelopingtheirproductwithasingleSQLsourcedatabasethatwouldrunonPDAdevices,laptopsandtabletPCcomputers.“WedidnotwanttodevelopandruntwodifferentproductsforthedistinctWindowsandWindowsMobileplatforms,”saysBraunstein.“Doingsowouldgreatlycomplicatethedevelopmentandongoingsupportefforts,andcauseengineeringcosts.”

SOLuTION

HealthwysestandardizedonSQLAnywhere,asingleSQLdatabasethatmettheirmulti-platformcriteria.Theefficienciesofusingthesingle-sourceembeddedsolutionallowedHealthwysetodedicatesomeavailableengineeringresourcestobuildproprietarytoolstoautomatemuchofthesystem’sadministrationandmonitoringtasks.“Justfocusingononedatabasegaveustheengineeringcapacitytobuildthesetools,whichhasstreamlinedhowwerunourdatacenter,”Braunsteinexplains.

HealsopointsouttheabilityofSQLAnywhereto“selftune”byadaptingtousagepatterns,eliminatestheneedforcustomerstoemployaDBAonstaff.“Forourcustomers,it’snotfeasibletoemployaDBA,astheDBAsalarywouldexceedthatofthedirectorofmosthomehealthcareagencies.”BraunsteinsaystheembeddeddatabasehasbeenacriticalsuccessfactorinkeepingthetotalcostofownershipoftheHealthWyseapplicationdown,andwithinthebudgetlimitationstheirtargetcustomers.

Andrew’s Advice for ISVs uNdERSTaNd THE adVaNTaGES OF EMbEddING a daTabaSE “Inouropinion,theadvantagesofanembeddeddatabasearefartoocompellingtoignore.We’reabletoguaranteeandincludeset-upwitheveryinstallation,avoidinganyproblemsthatarisewhencustomersarelefttopurchasetheirowndatabase.Ifacustomerweretopurchasethewrongversionorinstallthedatabaseincorrectly,theISVultimatelyhastostepinanddeliverunplannedsupport.”

“Anembeddeddatabasealsoensuresthatourcustomersupgradetonewversionsaccordingtoourschedule,savingusfromhavingtoabsorbtheaddedcoststhatcomewithsupportingdifferentversionsofdifferentdatabasesfordifferentcustomers.”

FOcuS SaLES cONVERSaTIONS ON yOuR aPPLIcaTION “WhenwegetresistancefromITdepartmentsonusingadatabasethat’sdifferentfromtheirown,weremindthemthatthey’realwaysgoingtobebestservedbydecidingfirstonthebestapplicationfunctionalitytosuittheirneeds,andthenidentifyanydatabaseconcerns,becausemanyconcernscanbeovercomewithminimaleffort.


NaME: AnDREWS.BRAUnSTEIn

TITLE: CTO

cOMPaNy: HEALTHWYSE

Background

HealthWyseprovidesintegrated

clinicalandfinancialinformation

systemstotheHomeCare,Hospice,

andPrivateDutymarkets.The

company’sapplicationrunson

remoteuserdevices,allowing

caregiveremployeestocollectpatient

dataandsynchronizewithback-end

databases.Theapplicationreduces

thepaperworkburdenoncaregiver

employees,allowingmoretimefor

patientcare.HealthWyseCustomers

includesmallerHomeCareagencies

withunderadozenremoteusers,to

largemulti-stateoperationswith700

ormoreremoteusers.

Forexample,someofourcustomerswanttohavetheabilitytocontroltunings,backupandmigrationprocedures.Inthesecases,we’veusedtheSQLAnywherereplicationfunctionalitytocreateaone-wayreplicaofthedatabaseforcustomerstoaccess.Thishasgivenustremendousabilitytomeettheneedsofcustomerswhoprefertohaveaccesstothedatabaseshouldtheyneedit,withoutgivingthemultimatecontrolandjeopardizingthemaindatabase.”

bE SuRE OF yOuR VENdOR’S SuPPORT STRucTuRE “Ifyourapplicationdoesn’twork,yourcustomerswillholdyou,astheapplicationproviderresponsible,nomatterwhatcomponentofthetechnologyisatfault.Soyouneedtobe100%confidentinthesupportfromyourvendors,becausetheirsupportiswhatcanmakeorbreakyourreputationwitheverycustomer.

Whenevaluatingtechnologypartners,askforsupportreferences,takethetimetocontactyourcolleaguesandaskspecificquestionslike:

•Doyougetthesamelevelandqualityofsupportaroundtheclock,andonholidays? •Howquicklyaredefectsfixed? •Howtechnicallyknowledgeableistheirfirst-levelsupport?Dotheyworkwellwithyour engineeringteam,ordoyouoftenhavetoescalateyoursupportcalls?

questions to ask when choosing an Embedded Technology Partner Therearemanyquestionsthatshouldbeaskedwhenchoosingatechnologypartner.Youshouldinvestigatefourkeyareaswithyourquestions,priortoanydecisionbeingmade.Themostobviousdecisionpointisthetechnology,whichshouldbeappropriateforyourrequirements.Beyondthetechnology,though,itisequallyimportanttoevaluatethepotentialpartner’sbusinessterms,theirabilitytosupportbothyourdevelopmentteamsaswellasyourcustomers,andtheirabilitytomeetyourfuturerequirements.Youshouldbesatisfiedwitheachoftheseareaspriortomakingthedecisiontoassociateyourselfwithapotentialpartner.

TEcHNOLOGy – dOES IT JuST wORk? Easy to Use by Your Customers Inmanycases,thefirstconsiderationisthetechnology.Youarelookingtoenhanceorcompleteyourownproductwiththeinclusionofadditionaltechnologycomponents.Itisimportantwheninvestigatingapotentialpartnerthatyoulookfortechnologythatisdesignedtobeembeddedinsideotherproducts,andwillworkwellwithyourownofferings.Itisnotenoughthattheirtechnologyworkswellwheninstalledbyexperts,butalsothatitfunctionsjustaswellwheninstalledbynon-experts,aspartofyoursystem.Istheirtechnologyeasilyintegratedwithyourinstallation,andisitinvisibletoyourend-users?Whatadministrativeoverheadisimposedonyourcustomersasaresultofyourchoiceofembeddedtechnology? Youshouldevaluatewhatadditionalhardwarerequirementswillbeplacedonyourcustomers,aswellashowwellyourpotentialpartner’stechnologytakesadvantageofadditionalhardwareresourcesthatbecomeavailablesuchasmemoryandprocessors.Remember,yourcustomerswillthinkanythingembeddedinyourproductisyourresponsibility,soyouwanttoensurethebestuserexperiencepossible.

Easy to Use by Your Development Team Inadditiontotheeaseofusebyyourcustomers,youalsomustconsidertheeaseofdevelopmentbyyourownengineeringstaff.Doesthetechnologysupportallthehardwareandoperatingsystemplatformsyouandyourcustomersrequiretoday,andinthefuture?Doesitsupportavarietyofdevelopmentenvironmentsandlanguages,suchasC/C++,.nET,Java,andWebscripting,aswellasavarietyofAPIinterfaces?Andfinally,willyourdevelopmentteamfindthedevelopmentexperienceasmoothone,oraretherefunctionalitygapsthatareonlynoticeableoncedevelopmenthasstarted?Ensuringanefficientdevelopmentefforthelpsyourengineeringteamfreeupmoretimetospendonyourapplication,helpingyougettomarketfaster.


An Interview with Chris Kleisath, Senior Director of Engineering, Sybase iAnywhere

buSINESS TERMS Whilethetechnologybeingofferediscertainlyimportant,itisequallyimportantthatyouunderstandthebusinesstermsbeingofferedbyyourpotentialpartner.Youshouldensurethattheirpricinganddistributionmodelalignswithyourownbusinessmodel.Dotheyofferfavorablepaymentterms,andisthereadiscountforlargervolumes?Doyouhavetheabilitytodistributeyourproductinthemosteffectivewayforyourcustomers?Itisvitalthatyouunderstandapartner’sflexibilityandwillingnesstoworkwithyouonbusinesstermsthatimproveyourabilitytosucceed.

SuPPORT FOR yOu aNd yOuR cuSTOMERS Inmanyways,supportisthemostimportant,andyetoftenoverlookedareaofconsiderationwhenevaluatingapotentialtechnologypartner.Theirabilitytoprovideyourdevelopmentteamwithtimelyandhelpfulsupportduringyourdevelopmentwillgoalongwaytoensuringyouhaveanon-timedeliveryofyourproduct.Effectivesupportisalsocrucialonceyoushipyourproductandstartworkingwithyourowncustomers.DoestheirsupportteamunderstandtheOEMmodel?Yourpartnershouldhaveasupportteamthatunderstandswhatitmeanstoembedtheirtechnologyinsideyourproduct,andbepreparedtohelpyousupportyourcustomers.DotheyprovideeffectiveOEMaccountmanagement,soyouknowinadvancewhototalktoifyouhaveproblems?Thebottomlineisthatyourequireapartnerwhoisableandwillingtogothe“extramile”toprovidethesupportyouandyourcustomersneed.

FuTuRE PROOF Whenchoosingatechnologypartner,youmustevaluatethattheymeetyourneedsnotjusttoday,butalsointothefuture.Doestheirtechnologyhaveacleargrowthpaththatcansupportyourlargestcustomerstoday,butalsotomorrowasyourbusinessgrows?Dotheyoffercross-platformoptions,soyouarenotlockedintoasinglehardwareandoperatingsystemplatform?Doestheirtechnologyofferaflexiblearchitecturethatsupportsavarietyofenvironmentssuchasclient/server,web,mobile,hosted,andcloud?Whenchoosingatechnologypartner,youneedtoensurethatyouwillhavetheabilitytoadapttothechanginglandscapenow,andinthefuture.

SuMMaRy Ensurethatyouconsidermorethanjusttechnologywhenchoosinganembeddedpartner.Youmustalsoevaluatetheirbusinessterms,theirabilitytosupportyouandyourcustomers,andtheirabilitytomeetyourneedsinthefuture.Choosinganembeddedtechnologypartnercanpresentsomechallenges,butcanalsoallowyoutoaccelerateyourbusinessplan,enablingyoutobringbetterproductstomarket,inafastertimeframe.


2010 Peer Insights Report for ISV Executives - SAP · Since meter readers are essentially cash...

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Transcript of 2010 Peer Insights Report for ISV Executives - SAP · Since meter readers are essentially cash...