AvantGo Aquired by Sybase for $38M

Posted By: Ryan Friday, December 20, 2002 10:27:40 AM

Sybase, a enterprise infrastructure and integration company, and AvantGo, today announced that they have signed a definitive agreement for Sybase to acquire AvantGo in a cash merger valued at approximately $38 million. Sybase intends to operate AvantGo under its iAnywhere Solutions subsidiary. The acquisition is expected to be completed during the first quarter of 2003.

Also, AvantGo has made a beta version of it's Palm OS 5 software available for download.

"This acquisition teams the common vision and technologies of two m-Business leaders," said Terry Stepien, president, iAnywhere Solutions. "Building on our mobile database leadership, this union will enable iAnywhere Solutions to fuel new growth and pioneer innovative solutions in the emerging mobile middleware market."

"We are impressed by the commitment of the Sybase and iAnywhere Solutions management teams to drive opportunities for our mobile enterprise products and the My AvantGo service around the world," said David Pratt, president and CEO, AvantGo. "We believe there is a strong future for our products, customers, partners and employees with Sybase's significant global strength and resources."

Following the completion of the acquisition, iAnywhere Solutions plans to:

Open iAnywhere Solutions' leading mobile database to a new audience -- enterprise Web developers.
Expand the global enterprise reach of AvantGo's products and applications through Sybase's worldwide channels and robust partner base of more than 700 embedded database partners.
Build on the momentum and brand awareness of the My AvantGo service, which currently has more than seven million registered users.

The acquisition is subject to customary closing conditions, including approval of AvantGo's stockholders. All executive officers and board members and certain affiliates holding approximately 25% of AvantGo's outstanding shares have entered into agreements with Sybase to vote their shares in support of the merger.

About Sybase, Inc.
Sybase pioneers software that integrates platforms, databases and applications. Sybase solutions create Information Liquidity -- transforming data into economic value. With Sybase, companies can attain maximum value from their data assets by getting the right information to the right people at the right time. For more information, visit the Sybase Web site.

AvantGo Beta for Palm OS 5
AvantGo has also just released a beta version of their popular web client for Palm OS 5 powered devices. The beta version represents a major rewrite of the software for OS 5. AvantGo is a online and offline web browser, that lets users sync a large variety of online content to their handhelds, including sites like PalmInfocenter. It has a long list of new features including support for font colors and sizes, bookmarks and syncing content to external storage cards.

Exisiting users can download the client here, new users are encouraged to go through the setup process first to create an avantgo.com account. At this time there is only a windows client and there are known bugs so please read the documentation before installing the application. AvantGo is seeking bug reports and feedback, which can be sent to: ami_beta_feedback@avantgo.com

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Probably no Mac OS X conduit for sure now :( nt.

Schu @ 12/20/2002 11:13:06 AM #

no text

RE: Probably no Mac OS X conduit for sure now :( nt.

james_sorenson @ 12/20/2002 12:13:39 PM #

Use iSilo or Plucker.

advantages:
Takes less space.
Better custimuzation of content.
Doesn't rely on a single server to get content.

Only caveats:
You have to run iSiloX or Plucker before Hotsync.
You can't update wirelessly.

iSiloX costs about $25 I think.
Plucker is free, but requires Unix knowledge to run.

I highly reccomend iSilo. They have always kept the Mac and PC versions in sync. I dumped Avantgo almost a year ago.

Jim

-------
James Sorenson

RE: Probably no Mac OS X conduit for sure now :( nt.

elo @ 12/20/2002 12:52:42 PM #

I'm confused - I can only find iSiloXC (which is command line and also requires UNIX knowledge) on their website. How is this on par with their PC offerings? And how do I use it?

elo

RE: Probably no Mac OS X conduit for sure now :( nt.

cbowers @ 12/20/2002 1:03:52 PM #

goto www.isilox.com for a MAC desktop app. isiloxc is for those who wish to use a command line interface, perhaps for scheduling purposes. You can build your channel list with isilox and run the fetches manually, or once your channel list is built, schedule the fetches with isiloxc. No unix knowledge needed, isiloxc just uses the config file you created with isilox.

RE: Probably no Mac OS X conduit for sure now :( nt.

rsig @ 12/20/2002 2:21:23 PM #

>but requires Unix knowledge to run

Not anymore. Plucker Desktop (available for free at the Plucker site) makes it soooo easy!

I don't think that Plucker supplants Avantgo, nor Avantgo, Plucker. I find both useful.

To All: Happy Holidays!

RE: Probably no Mac OS X conduit for sure now :( nt.

elo @ 12/20/2002 3:07:01 PM #

cbowers, thanks for this info! I had visited that page before, but since it listed only "Mac OS" under iSiloX, I had assumed that it didn't work with OS X. You're absolutely right, though, and I'm trying it now.

risg, are you suggesting that Plucker Desktop exists in an OS X version as well?

elo

RE: Probably no Mac OS X conduit for sure now :( nt.

fridael @ 12/22/2002 7:54:40 AM #

Plucker users with Mac OS X can also try out JPluck. JPluck is a Java-based toolkit for creating Plucker documents. It includes a GUI for managing and downloading sites. Though I don't have a Mac myself, users have reported that it runs well under the JDK 1.4.1 Developer Preview(available from the Apple Developer Connection).

http://jpluck.sourceforge.net/

JPluck being Java-based also runs under Windows and Linux of course. It's free, open-source, licensed under the GNU GPL.

Finally a "workable" AvantGo for OS 5

asiayeah @ 12/20/2002 11:26:22 AM #

I've just tried the Avantgo on Tungsten T.

I hope they would support the hi-resolution graphics very soon. The speed is similar to my previous m505. I hope they would do more performancing tunings.

And I hope they would fix the tiny font's problems soon.

--
With great power comes great responsiblity.

RE: Finally a

PFloyd @ 12/20/2002 4:04:51 PM #

I like how easy it is to store the content on the card instead of RAM. The application does start pretty slowly though for now.

RE: Finally a

Wuju @ 12/20/2002 10:37:48 PM #

How and where do you set which or all articles to sync to the SD memory card in Tungsten T. I want the article subsription to reside on the memory to save my RAM space.

No more content from AvantGo?

arnstein @ 12/20/2002 12:38:14 PM #

The AvantGo operation includes both software and content. I really like reading news and opinion on AvantGo, I subscribe to the premium version.

I suspect that Sybase only cares about the software. They are in the business of making and selling software for big business.

All good things must come to an end...

RE: No more content from AvantGo?

petew @ 12/20/2002 12:49:33 PM #

Well if people keep paying the $20 per year...

RE: No more content from AvantGo?

slfunk @ 12/20/2002 1:44:34 PM #

Well..

I have paid my money for the next year and my expectation is that the service will continue for this period of time.

Although it is one of several offerings I do find Avantgo the most user friendly (easiest to use) and hope that the service continues past the time of my initial subscription.

Cheers! Congrats Avantgo..

RE: No more content from AvantGo?

TDS Computer @ 12/20/2002 8:02:39 PM #

It will be just difficult for Sybase to alienate 7 million users by discontinuing the "Avantgo" service. I am sure that avantgo makes some money off of this service with their advertising and charging sites to display their content.
Ryan, do you pay Avantgo anything for having Palminfocenter available as a channel?

On another note, I hope they integrate some of the features of the Palm OS5 beta into an update for we non-OS 5 users. The ability to easily sync to a storage card would be nice...

Visit us at www.tdscomputer.com

I am glad Palm did not buy them!

montyburns @ 12/20/2002 11:08:27 PM #

I am glad Palm did not end up buying AvantGo. Palm would have smothered them, just like they did with AnyDay, WeSync, MultiMail and Be.

RE: I am glad Palm did not buy them!

MikeInDM @ 12/26/2002 2:12:28 PM #

And, you think Sybase won't do any different? I wouldn't expect them to be terribly interested in individual content...they are looking at corporate solutions. I bet there isn't enough money made off of the current AvantGo setup to make it worth keeping alive. (If there were, AvantGo might have made some money).