Sybase, Inc. (NYSE: SY), the largest enterprise software and services company exclusively focused on managing and mobilizing information, today announced that it has acquired paybox Solutions AG, a global leader in mobile payment solutions. With this acquisition Sybase continues to bolster its Unwired Enterprise strategy by extending its leading mobile infrastructure to mobile payments.
Sybase will now provide mobile operators, financial institutions and merchants with a full suite of mobile payment solutions enabling their customers to undertake person-to-person remittances, make payments for goods and services, top-up mobile airtime and pay bills from a mobile device, in both developed and emerging markets.
"Mobile payments are an increasingly critical part of mobile computing, a core component of our Unwired Enterprise strategy," said Marty Beard, president of Sybase 365. "The sheer number of people with access to a mobile phone in both developed and emerging markets around the world, means the mobile device has the potential to become a dominant vehicle for consumers to connect and transact conveniently, anytime, anywhere, fueling the mobile economy. This acquisition extends our offerings and capabilities to enable this mobile economy."
A privately held company founded in 1999 and headquartered in Raunheim, Germany, paybox will be integrated into Sybase 365, a wholly-owned subsidiary of Sybase, Inc. As a provider of the broadest mobile commerce offering, paybox also brings Sybase a proven track record and a solid customer base.
Sybase is already a leader in mobile technology, global operator connectivity to more than 700 mobile operators, and has a long history in delivering mission critical systems to financial institutions. Combined with paybox's capabilities and expertise in mobile payments, Sybase extends its leadership and global mCommerce footprint. With this acquisition, Sybase empowers mobile operators, financial institutions and merchants to quickly launch mobile commerce services to their customers in both emerging and developed markets around the world.
"This acquisition is a natural progression of the partnership agreement signed between the two companies in Q4 last year. paybox and Sybase share the same vision for mobile commerce that is in line with where the market is headed and what customers are demanding from their mobile phones," said Eckhard Ortwein, CEO paybox. "By combining mobile messaging and mobile payments offerings, it will be difficult for any competitor to match our mobile commerce services."
Sybase has consistently made inroads in the mCommerce arena. For the past several years, the company has provided remote mobile payments via SMS, MMS and WAP to content providers and brands, for digital mobile content and services, charged directly to the subscribers' bill via their mobile operator. In October, 2007 the company launched Sybase mBanking 365TM - an innovative suite of products for the financial industry enabling banks to interact with customers in real-time through mobile alerts, two-way banking services, out-of-band authentication, and marketing campaigns.
Sybase does not expect this acquisition to have a material impact on 2009 financial results.
Watch Sybase 365 president, Marty Beard discuss the acquisition, click here.
Notes to Editors:
mCommerce is a significant new way of conducting banking, payments and transactions over a mobile device. A full suite of mCommerce services will drive six key applications:
(1) Remote mobile commerce - payment of goods and services via the mobile.
(2) Mobile Airtime TopUp
(3) Mobile banking
- these are existing applications.
(4) Person-to-Person (P2P) money transfer/remittances
(5) Mobile Bill Payments
(6) Physical mobile commerce (NFC) - at a point of sale via mobile
- these are emerging applications
About Sybase, Inc.
Sybase is the largest enterprise software and services company exclusively focused on managing and mobilizing information. With our global solutions, enterprises can extend their information securely and make it useful for people anywhere using any device. The world's most critical data in commerce, communications, finance, and government runs on Sybase. For more information, visit http://www.sybase.com.
About Sybase 365
Sybase 365, a subsidiary of Sybase, Inc. (NYSE: SY), is the global leader in SMS, MMS and GRX mobile messaging interoperability, the delivery and settlement of SMS and MMS content, mobile commerce and enterprise-class messaging services. Processing more than 200 billion messages per year, Sybase 365 reaches more than 700 mobile operators and 3 billion subscribers around the world. For more information, visit: www.sybase.com/365
About paybox
paybox solutions AG is a global market leader in mobile payment solutions. Founded in 1999, paybox was the first to launch mass-market mobile payment solutions in five European markets. paybox set up operator-led, national mobile Payment standards in Germany and Austria proving a blueprint for highly developed markets where an open mobile payment infrastructure drives the expansion of the mobile services ecosystem. As an officially certified GSMA Mobile Money Vendor, paybox also covers the entire value proposition for emerging markets where mPayment, mBanking and mCommerce solutions create low cost banking services for the unbanked.
paybox received the Int' Stevie Award 2007 for Best Product in Telecommunications and the World BSS Award 2008 for the Best E/M-Commerce Payments Implementation. Recognised for having the broadest mobile Commerce offering worldwide, paybox mobile payment solutions are deployed by leading companies across Europe, North and South America, North Africa, the Middle East and Asia. For more information, visit www.paybox.net
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Sybase and Sybase 365 are trademarks or registered trademarks of Sybase, Inc. All other company and product names mentioned may be trademarks of the respective companies with which they are associated.
Forward-Looking Statements
Certain statements in this release concerning Sybase, Inc. and its prospects and future growth are forward-looking and involve a number of uncertainties and risks. Factors that could cause actual events or results to differ materially from those suggested by these forward-looking statements include, but are not limited to, the performance of the global economy and growth in software industry sales; market acceptance of the company's products and services; customer and industry analyst perception of the company and its technology vision and future prospects; the success of certain business combinations engaged in by the company or by competitors; political unrest or acts of war; possible disruptive effects of organizational or personnel changes; and other factors described in Sybase, Inc.'s reports filed with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission, including its annual report on Form 10-K for the year ended December 31, 2007.