History of Sybase

One of the cofounders of Sybase tells about the birth of the company in 1984 and its strategy for entering what appeared to be a crowded marketplace. The article discusses how they were able to raise the funding needed. It tracks the technical development of the initial product that supported Sun and DEC computers and was rapidly accepted by the Wall Street community. The technical advantages of Sybase are described along with its marketing thrust to compete with Oracle. It covers the business relationship with Microsoft and Ashton-Tate and how the product performed in benchmarking tests. The problems with acquisitions, growth, and competition are described. It concludes with the changes in management and the company's acquisition by SAP.