SQL Anywhere

SQL Anywhere is an RDBMS product from Sybase iAnywhere. iAnywhere is a subsidiary of Sybase.

Features

* Database files are operating-system-independent. This means that they can be copied between supported platforms.
* Can be run on Windows, Windows CE, Novell NetWare, and various UNIX platforms, including Linux.
* Has several standard interfaces (ODBC, JDBC, ADO.NET) and some special interfaces (eg. PHP, Perl).
* Supports stored procedures and user functions (using Watcom SQL, T-SQL, Java, or C/C++), triggers, referential integrity, row-level locking, replication (two technologies: SQL Remote, MobiLink), proxy tables (links to other databases), and events (both scheduled and in response to system events such as lack of free disk space)
* Supports strong encryption of both database files and client-server communication
* Version 10 supports materialized views, database mirroring, server clustering, and snapshot isolation

Uses

SQL Anywhere is widely used in several contexts:
* as an embedded database, as an application data store; for example, it is used in Intuit QuickBooks, in network management products, backup products, and others. Its ability to be used with minimal administration is a distinguishing feature in this role.
* as a database server for workgroups or for small or medium-sized businesses.
* in mobile computing environments. It includes scalable data synchronization technology that provides change-based replication across many mobile databases.

As of 2006 there were over 10 million deployed seats of SQL Anywhere. [cite web|title=SQL Anywhere 10 Announcement|url=http://www.sybase.com/detail?id=1042264]

History

* Initially created by Watcom as Watcom SQL.
* Version 3: 1992
* Watcom acquired by PowerSoft in 1993; Watcom SQL shipped with their visual programming environment PowerBuilder
* Version 4: 1994 (Stored procedures, triggers)
* PowerSoft and Sybase merged in 1995: Watcom SQL was renamed SQL Anywhere.
* Version 5: 1995 (SQL Remote data replication; graphical administration tools)
* Version 6: 1998. Renamed Adaptive Server Anywhere. (multi-processor support, Java objects in the database)
* Version 6.0.2: 1999 (MobiLink data synchronization, UltraLite mobile database for Palm OS and Windows CE)
* Version 7: 2000 (dynamic cache, task scheduling and event handling, cross-platform administration tools)
* Version 8: 2001 (Volcano query optimizer, encrypted data storage and transmission,
* Version 9: 2003 (Index consultant, embedded HTTP server)
* Version 10: 2006 - renamed SQL Anywhere (high availability, intra-query parallelism, materialized views)
* Version 11: 2008 (full text search, BlackBerry support)

See also

* Homepage of the IvanAnywhere robot

External links

* [http://www.ianywhere.com/ iAnywhere web site]
* [http://ianywhere.com/products/sql_anywhere.html SQL Anywhere page]
* [http://www.sybase.com/products/mobilesolutions/sqlanywherestudio SQL Anywhere Studio]

References