Mobile is a key pillar for the German enterprise software giant SAP’s future growth. SAP is relying on mobile platforms to reach its global strategy of 1 billion users for its solutions by 2015. Following this move, SAP announced on April 10 that it plans to acquire Syclo, a provider of business mobile applications and technologies.
SAP noted that the purchase will help drive innovation in mobile solutions for businesses of all sizes and accelerate the adoption and deployment of new mobile asset management and field service solutions on the Sybase Unwired Platform. The financial terms of the deal were not disclosed. The transaction is expected to close in the second quarter of 2012.
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Focusing exclusively on enterprise mobility solutions, Syclo has approximately 600 customers in 39 countries across all major asset and mobile-intensive industries.
The announcement was made at a press conference held in San Francisco (U.S.). The company also unveiled a unified strategy for real-time data management to grow database market leadership and agreements with Adobe, Appcelerator and Sencha to provide users with an open mobile apps development framework for efficiently and cost-effectively developing on the company’s market-leading mobile platform.
The move by SAP comes as businesses are increasing their adoption of smart devices and enterprise mobility in the workplace. According to the market research firm IDC, 660 million smartphones will be sold this year. And another industry research firm, Gartner, notes that mobile phones are expected to overtake PCs as the most common Web access device worldwide by 2013.
According Sanjay Poonen, SAP’s president of global solutions, Syclo brings both domain-savvy expertise and industry-leading solutions, that as recognized by customers and analysts, are expected to drive innovation and mobility in the workplace.
Following the close of the transaction, Syclo apps will be integrated with the SAP mobile platform and SAP Afaria for mobile device management and security.
During the press conference, SAP also unveiled its unified strategy for real-time data management to grow database market leadership. It comprises the SAP Hana platform, Sybase data management offerings and SAP solutions for enterprise information management (EIM).
The road map SAP presented includes areas of strategic innovation and investment in its database portfolio to increase its database market leadership by 2015.
SAP also plans to launch a U.S.$155 million venture fund for startups to build on the new platform and a U.S.$337 million incentive program for customers to move to SAP Hana. The venture program to bolster innovation in the startup community will be used to foster and support an ecosystem of entrepreneurs and investors focused on the development of real-time applications.
