Is the SA Cloud ODE Edition For us?

[glenn_barber]

We have a windows based application that has been on SQL Anywhere for nearly as long as SQL Anywhere has been around.

Up to now, this has only been client-server installed on customer sites. Recently a customer asked us to host the application for them because purchasing a server at this time was not an option. Our plan was to do this on windows Server 2012 using the Application Publishing via remote desktop.

We did some experimenting with with this on our own server and it seems to work very well.

We discovered today, however, that the SQL Anywhere Licenses (even the Chip ones that support external and internal users) cannot be used to service applications to other accounts (in the fine print).

This means that the only option we have is the new SQL Anywhere On Demand Edition and the Licensing is per Core (3 Core Minimum) with the idea that this is served up by multiple cloud servers, etc.

Wow - this sounds like a lot of up front expense and learning for an investigative activity - and I am wondering how much a learning curve (and hardware) it takes to make the transition.

Has any one else here made this transition from in-house Client/Server to Cloud based application deployment and can share the challenges and benefits? Is it worth the effort for a small customer base?

[Chris_Kleisath]

I am in engineering, so the information I have may be out of date. I believe that partners in the SQL Anywhere OEM program can deploy software "to" their customers, and then host that software for them, subject to their usual royalty under the OEM program. I would talk to your sales rep for exact details.

[glenn_barber]

Hi Chris - I may be wrong and will check it again - put I was told that the OEM program did not provide for providing services with the licenses. Also the OEM program seems to be being changed in the transition from Sybase to SAP, all deals expire in a month or two, with no clear transition for small partners who can't make volume commitments.. I have been trying to get information and so far haven't been able to get any answers about that.

[reimer_pods]

Looks like the invisible database goeing unsellable ...
We escaped being a victim of the recently changed requirements for resellers with the help of our german Sybase distributor who managed to keep that business continuing. But our previous sales representative has been assigned another task (without being asked) and is not amused ...

[glenn_barber]

Unfortunately, the minimum license you can buy for the Client is the SQL Anywhere Work Group 5 user License. And we will plan to do that when we start up for a few select accounts - but its incredibly awkward. And we really couldn't expand our business on that model. I am not sure we could use the personal version to handle single accounts.

Microsoft has a special Service Provider License Agreement (SPLA) which allows us to use SQL Server on any scale for around $8 per month per user which is designed for the Service Business (still pricey on a 3 year cost but workable) . The old Sybase Company policies about no Timeshare or Host seem to be written for a bygone day. The modern way to deploy desktop apps is to publish them with Remote Desktop - very slick on Windows Server 2012 I might add. WIth the 2X Client you can go to the Mac, iPhone, iPad, Android, etc...

If SA ODE is the only way one can provide can legally provide software as a Service (as I am told), I am wondering how people did it legally before it existed?

[MCMartin]

For just one customer with one database it seems to be an overkill to me. What you gain with the On Demand version are tools to start, stop, monitor and move databases between server instances. In your case you might check if it is a legal alternative, that the customer buys the SQLA license for his application and provides it to you for running it on your hardware (so he just rents the server from you without licenses).

[glenn_barber]

From what I understand, having the customer buy their license is acceptable - however the smallest License is 5 user workgroup - and how on earth do we implement this practically for multiple accounts on the same server. We have an OEM agreement that allows 1-5 users but those agreements seem to being going into Neverland with the SAP Assimilation and we haven't been able to get an answer as to what will be happening.

SAP/Sybase needs a Service Provider License similar to Microsoft's that allows small ISVs with embedded applications to start out small and grow into the ODE.