IMO the advanced architecture ACS completion is the most significant piece of news we are waiting on. What you must remember is this software is good for ANY two databases. IBM does not have to be involved. That said, they definitely should be. Remember, the first product for IBM was the Sybase to IBM version, but about the time that was put out in the marketplace SAP bought Sybase, and SAP might have used their resources to entice some of the Sybase customers to stay. SAP and IBM are also partners in some dealings so that may impact things. It just may not be as easy as previously thought to sign those Sybase customers. Several years back Joe wisely decided to focus on Sybase(with prompting from users), as many of their customers were not happy, but things may have changed. I don't know. Now according to Frank we are talking to both IBM and SAP regarding the ACS, and I know big corporations both compete and cooperate, but if IBM uses the product they can just as easily take business from Oracle, Microsoft, or any number of smaller databases as well as SAP. A fair amount of diplomacy will probably be needed by Frank in these dealings. Years ago Joe mentioned that having IBM as a big brother was good, but Ants needed to broaden their offerings so as to not be so dependent on IBM. Agreed, but we never got the chance. The bottom line is that we should be where the customer wants to go. And I can't shake the feeling that Rik's hiring may have something to do with Ants former database product, the Ants Data Server. That's what he was a top salesman for, but Ants doesn't own it anymore. Now the good news. The bottom line for the bottom line is potentially explosive.
