Sybase ASE a Less Costly Database for SAP Business Suite? IDC Says Yes

As we invent new ways to capture and store information, companies acquire more and more data. As data grows, it becomes more and more important for companies to choose the most efficient database possible.  IDC, a market intelligence provider, recently published a white paper showing that Sybase ASE is worth a look in order to reduce database costs.

In a survey sponsored by Sybase, IDC examined cost factors involved in running a relational database management system in 12 companies selected from around the world and from various industries.  The companies IDC studied ran database systems from 7 different vendors in all, and an average of 3 different relational database management systems per company. IDC was able to compare costs for different database systems within the same company and across different companies.  IDC considered the costs over a 5 year period.

Read the complete IDC white paper here.

Cost Comparison

IDC considered software licensing and maintenance fees, hardware costs, staffing costs, and opportunity costs related to downtime in comparing the expense of Sybase ASE and database systems from other vendors.

Software licensing and maintenance fees

The survey found that license and maintenance fees for Sybase ASE were 31% less than fees for databases from other vendors when the license costs for a growing database were considered over a 5 year period.  The survey found that the average license fees for Sybase ASE were $17,800 per 100 users over 5 years.

Hardware Costs

Because of Sybase ASE’s compression technology, IDC found that Sybase ASE requires significantly less hardware than database systems from other vendors.  Sybase ASE required 24% less storage capacity and 29% less server processor power than other database systems in the survey.

Staffing Costs

IT staffing is the greatest factor in the cost of running a database management system; IDC’s survey found that database-related IT staffing cost companies an average of $253,862 per 100 users over five years and made up 75% of the total cost of running the database. Sybase ASE required an average of 27% less IT staff time to maintain than did database products from other vendors.  Sybase ASE’s self-management features account for the greatest time savings.  In the survey, Sybase ASE required 40% less time from staff for performance tuning, 39% less time for database configuration, and 33% less time for database maintenance, patching, and upgrades.

Opportunity Costs

In order to measure opportunity costs based on downtime, IDC considered loss of productivity for internal users, and loss of revenue from external users.  IDC found that users on a Sybase ASE database are affected by an average of 3.75 hours of unplanned downtime annually as compared to 7.17 hours annually for users on other databases for an average downtime savings of 48%.  Downtime costs were an average 39% less annually for Sybase ASE than for other databases.

The Bottom Line

When all the factors above are combined, Sybase ASE costs companies an average of 28% less than other database management systems. IDC estimates that Sybase ASE could save a company $129,000 per 100 users over 5 years when compared to other databases.

Switching the Database under SAP Business Suite

The authors of the IDC white paper argue that it is especially worthwhile to consider converting the database for SAP Business Suite to Sybase ASE.  They point out that since SAP manages data internally in a way that is independent of the underlying database system, converting SAP data from one database to another and tuning it is relatively simple when compared to other commercial applications.

If you are interested in doing a database conversion, BayForce can help.  Contact us toll-free at 877-642-4727 or via the form below to find out more about our SAP assessment and project resources.