"This global alliance should enable Sybase and IBM to deploy mCommerce solutions at a scale that will give them a distinct advantage in the mCommerce landscape, further legitimizing the mobile channel as a core growth area for businesses worldwide," said Nick Holland, Senior Analyst, Aite Group.

As mCommerce moves beyond early adopters, IBM's global reach, strong client relationships and deep industry expertise, coupled with Sybase's leading end-to-end mCommerce solution and unrivalled global operator reach and Financial Services customer base, the companies will be able to provide flexibility and choice of mobile banking, mobile payment and mobile remittance offerings to an increasing number of customers.

"This agreement not only extends the long term collaboration between our two companies, but also coincides with the launch of IBM's Banking Framework, a unified platform to help accelerated transformation and reduced project risk right across a bank's operations from risk management to mCommerce," said Ranjit Balaram, Practice Executive, Wireless & Emerging Technology Applications, IBM Global Business Services. "With access to Sybase's complete mCommerce solution, the breadth of the IBM Banking Framework and the global reach and expertise of IBM Global Services, we can help simplify deployments for our joint clients and help them introduce a more consistent experience for end-users."

Today, Sybase and IBM are already trusted and proven business partners for hundreds of the world's enterprises, mobile operators and financial institutions. Under this agreement, IBM Global Business Services and Sybase 365 mCommerce team (Sybase 365 is a subsidiary of Sybase, Inc.) will work together to extend their reach and meet the needs of even more clients.

"This relationship between Sybase and IBM furthers our strategy to build global partnerships that will ensure a secure mobile commerce eco-system benefitting mobile subscribers, mobile operators and financial institutions around the world." said Matthew Talbot, Vice President mCommerce, Sybase 365.

"We are pleased that IBM - our selected outsourcing partner - is teaming up with Sybase 365 to provide a full mCommerce portfolio," said Dr. Nikolai Dobberstein, Senior Vice President and Head of Strategy & New Businesses for Maxis. "Today, Maxis is using the Sybase 365 Brand Mobiliser to set up interactive mobile services integrating existing charging and payment channels, and we see further potential to strategically expand mCommerce services to our subscribers working with Sybase 365 and IBM."