Data Panda reads the SQL Anywhere .db file behind point-of-sale terminals, field-service tablets and remote-office back-ends, and writes the rows next to the rest of your business. Sales captured on a register, jobs closed on a tablet and orders taken in a remote branch all stop living on the device and start joining the central view.
SAP SQL Anywhere is a relational database engine built for embedded and occasionally-connected workloads. The product traces back to Watcom SQL in 1992, became Sybase SQL Anywhere after PowerSoft and Sybase merged in the mid-nineties, and was rebranded SAP SQL Anywhere when SAP acquired Sybase in 2010. The current major release is version 17, first shipped in July 2015 and still maintained by SAP. The whole database lives in a single .db file, runs as a small footprint server on Windows, Linux, macOS and several UNIX variants, and is deployed inside the host application rather than next to it.
The platform is more than the engine. MobiLink is the session-based synchronisation layer that pushes and pulls changes between hundreds or thousands of remote SQL Anywhere databases and a central consolidated server. UltraLite is the cut-down sibling for iOS, Android and other mobile devices, and SQL Remote handles file-based replication for occasionally-connected users. In practice that combination is why SQL Anywhere sits inside vertical software for point-of-sale, field-service, fleet, healthcare devices and remote-branch back-offices, and why QuickBooks famously embedded it for years. The data captured on each remote node is the operational source of truth, and the consolidated server (or the .db file itself) is what we point at to land it in the warehouse.
Sales captured by SQL Anywhere on each register or branch back-office land in the warehouse so headquarters reports on a single set of numbers.
Job records, signatures and parts-used logged on a SQL Anywhere or UltraLite database on the tablet flow back to the central stack.
Healthcare devices, kiosks and industrial equipment that log into SQL Anywhere become a queryable source for analytics and models.
Many ERP, POS and field apps ship with a SQL Anywhere back-end and a brittle nightly export. We read the database directly and land it as a live source.
A list of concrete reports, automations and AI features we have built on SAP SQL Anywhere data. Pick the one that matches your situation.
Why pull SAP SQL Anywhere into a warehouse instead of leaving it on the device?
Because each SQL Anywhere database is the source of truth for one site, one truck or one device, and the rest of the business cannot see it. A retail chain has the day's sales spread over hundreds of .db files; a field-service operation has jobs sitting in a tablet at the end of a shift. Pulling those records into the warehouse joins them to CRM, finance and inventory, so head office reports and downstream automations work on a complete picture instead of one device at a time.
Do we read the device .db file or the MobiLink consolidated server?
Both are valid sources, depending on the deployment. If MobiLink (or SQL Remote) already consolidates remote databases into one central SQL Anywhere server, that is usually the cleanest source: schema is unified and the central server is built to be queried. If the remote nodes hold data that never makes it back centrally, we read the per-device .db file directly via ODBC or on a copy. We pick whichever ends up giving the warehouse the most complete and lowest-latency view.
Is SAP SQL Anywhere the same product as SAP HANA?
No. SAP SQL Anywhere is an embedded, occasionally-connected relational database aimed at remote nodes (POS, mobile, branch, embedded device). SAP HANA is an in-memory column-store aimed at analytical and transactional workloads at the centre of the stack. They live at opposite ends of the SAP database portfolio, and a typical pattern is exactly that: SQL Anywhere captures data at the edge, HANA (or another warehouse) is where it is consolidated and analysed.
Finance gets the till data, the field invoices and the branch-back-office numbers out of their per-site SQL Anywhere database and into the warehouse, joined with the bank, the CRM and the central ERP. Reconciliation works on warehouse tables instead of an export that was emailed in from each site.
Sales and field teams that work on tablets see the orders, jobs and visits captured on the device land in the central warehouse next to the back-office data. One view spans what was logged on the road, what the office systems already knew, and which accounts to call next.
Operations stops waiting for the nightly job that moves data out of every store, branch or truck. The SQL Anywhere database on each remote node lands in the warehouse on a schedule the team controls, and the daily picture across sites no longer hangs on whether one register synced overnight.
You keep the reporting tool you already have. We connect it to the warehouse where your SAP SQL Anywhere data lives.
OAuth authentication. Read-only by default. We sign a DPA and your admin keeps the keys.
Data flows into your warehouse on your schedule. Near real time or nightly, your call. You own the data.
We build the first dashboard, workflow or AI feature with you, then hand over the keys. Or we stay on for ongoing delivery.
We set up the foundation. Your team builds on top.
Best fit Teams that already have a BI analyst or data engineer and want to own the build.
We build the whole thing, end to end.
Best fit Teams without in-house BI or dev capacity. You tell us what you need and we deliver it.
You do. It lands in your warehouse, on your cloud account. We don't resell or aggregate it. If you stop working with us, the warehouse stays yours and keeps running.
Near real time for most operational systems. For heavier sources we schedule hourly or nightly. You pick based on what the reports need.
No. If you don't have one, we help you pick one and set it up as part of the first delivery. Common starting points are Snowflake, Microsoft Fabric, or a small Postgres start.
All three sit in the SAP database portfolio but solve different problems. SAP SQL Anywhere is an embedded, occasionally-connected relational engine for remote and mobile nodes (POS, field tablets, branch back-offices, devices). SAP HANA is an in-memory column-store designed to be the analytical and transactional centre of the stack. SAP ASE (Adaptive Server Enterprise, also ex-Sybase) is a high-throughput row-store relational database for centralised OLTP. SQL Anywhere is what you find at the edge of the network; HANA and ASE are what you find at the centre.
MobiLink is SQL Anywhere's session-based synchronisation layer between many remote databases and a central consolidated server, designed to scale to thousands of nodes that connect occasionally. UltraLite is a smaller-footprint sibling for mobile devices like iOS and Android, used inside apps that have to keep working offline. SQL Remote is an older file-based replication option for users who only connect through email or file transfer. All three support the same pattern: capture data at the edge, sync it back when the network is available, and consolidate it centrally.
Both names refer to the same product. The engine started life as Watcom SQL in 1992, came under Sybase ownership when PowerSoft (which had bought Watcom) merged with Sybase in 1995, and was rebranded SAP SQL Anywhere when SAP acquired Sybase in 2010. Older deployments and a lot of vertical software still use the Sybase branding; new installations and SAP documentation use the SAP name. The data inside is the same regardless of the label.
We review your SAP SQL Anywhere setup and the systems around it. Together we pick the first thing worth building.