LAS VEGAS - At a luncheon at Sybase TechWave 2008 at Mandalay Bay Hotel, Sybase 365 president Marty Beard discussed the company's mobile messaging, mobile commerce and marketing services.

Sybase 365 claims to process more than 8 billion marketing messages every month. The company provides mobile services for media and entertainment brands, content providers, marketers and agencies.

"Carriers are looking for new sources of revenue and ad agencies are looking to run media-rich mobile marketing campaigns, so we mediate between them and provide them with a global platform," said Marty Beard, president of Sybase 365, Dublin, CA. "Everything we do is a service and we have a methodical approach to mobile."

Sybase 365's infrastructure features transcoding capabilities that traverse various networks and handsets without degrading message quality.

Sybase 365 offers a full spectrum of services and tools to mobile marketers.

Its interactive campaigns and mobile content distribution clients include various brands, agencies, content providers, online portals, sports leagues and media and entertainment companies.

"We extended our reach through a 2006 acquisition, and now we're compatible with all network standards and handset capabilities worldwide," Mr. Beard said. "We've built up a carrier channel that's unparalleled."

Including both direct and peer-to-peer agreements, Sybase 365 claims to have a reach of more than 700 carriers worldwide, which can potentially reach 2.2 billion mobile subscribers.

Sybase 365's longest running mobile marketing software is AvantGo, which delivers rich, personalized content and applications to PDA, wireless PDA and smartphone users.

More than 250 major marketing brands use AvantGo mobile advertising to target and reach an audience of over 7 million unique users.

Clients include BMW, Mercedes-Benz, United Airlines, Verizon Wireless, Hyatt, SportingNews.com, The New York Times and Market Watch from Dow Jones.

MMS 365 is a new content delivery gateway that sends and receives MMS from multiple sources directly to consumers' handsets. A Value Added Service Provider connects to MMS 365 with a single connection to deliver off-net content to the wireless subscribers of operators connected to MMS 365.

MMS 365 supports all popular types of rich content, including graphics, audio, video, ringtones, wallpaper, alerts and photos.

Using Application Manager's user-friendly Web interfaces, non-technical customers can set up a wide range of mobile application services, such as voting campaigns, competitions, broadcasts, mobile alerts and other mobile content services utilizing SMS, MMS, WAP/GPRS and Java.

Application Manager's suite of flexible, high-performance applications is distributed using Sybase 365's global distribution footprint, including more than 100 SMS connections across Western Europe, Asia, and the Americas.

This enables Sybase 365 customers to launch and monetize interactive campaigns and mobile content quickly.

Connected to the operator-grade Sybase 365 network, Content Manager facilitates the delivery and settlement of mobile transactions around the world in hundreds of currencies.

Content Manager enables content providers to aggregate content on a global basis, centralize content management activities within a single hosted environment and build channels to market via Web and WAP storefronts.

Sybase 365 offers mobile marketers a range of products and services.

Sybase 365's voting product lets broadcasting companies offer inbound voting and opinion services.

Features include intelligent keyword matching when words are spelled incorrectly, APIs that integrate SMS voting with Web or IVR, including publishing voting results to a billboard, Web site, or TV screen, and random selections.

The Alerts + Information-on-Demand service can distribute products such as horoscopes, jokes and ringtones.

These services enable the scheduling of content delivery from publishing companies to their subscribers, including support for recurring conditions.

Radio and TV stations use Message Moderator to send messages to an inbox, which can then be saved and published to a third-party interface.

The broadcast for mobile marketing campaigns application facilitates the broadcasting and sending of SMS messages with expiration times, scheduling, MT pricing and TPOA that changes the originating number to words (or a different number) for marketing purposes.

Sybase 365 also facilitates mobile trivia games and competitions that can be run on-pack and in print and let consumers participate via SMS.

When the participant texts in a keyword, the service returns a question.

The application supports competition and elimination modes, adding an interactive aspect.

An instant win competition application can be advertised on-pack, on air or in print.

It immediately informs participants whether their answer is correct or incorrect and enters them into a prize drawing. Multiple prize tiers can be set, and winners are selected based on probability (every ninth entry, for example) or based on a specific moment in time.

The Coupon Generator offers redemptions or micro-billing and access to Web sites. Two types of applications are available.

The first sends a unique coupon back to the participant, enabling a prize claim or access to a Web site.
The second involves texting in a unique code, and the participant is then informed of whether or not they have won a prize.

Coupons can be generated by the application or imported from a database.

Sybase 365 offers reporting that provides vital ROI feedback from your mobile marketing activities.

The company's reporting and analytics tools enable customers to track volumes and analyze trends and data-flow changes in real-time.

"Sybase 365 reaches more than three-quarters of the world's mobile subscriber base," Mr. Beard said. "Our services are deliverable via SMS and MMS and the growth of our multimedia, media-rich, internetwork messaging makes us the global leader."

This reporter was a guest of Sybase.