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Unfortunatley, I have to give you the consultant answer. "It depends"! "Best" must be defined in context of what you need out of your database, the costs vs your budget and the availability of affordable technicians in your area to support one or the other. Sybase and Oracle have their strengths and weaknesses across these "requirement dimensions". Here's a functional and technical summary of each. I also included SQL Server.
Oracle9i | Sybase | SQL Server 2000
Integrated OLAP functionality Yes Yes Yes
Integrated data mining functionality Yes No Yes
High-level scalability and performance Yes Yes No
Built-in data mining application Yes Yes No
Real application clusters for all apps Yes Yes No
Single-engine architecture Yes Yes No
Sub-minute failover from system failures Yes No No
BI tools from the same vendor Yes Yes No
User-controlled error recovery Yes No No
Complete range of partitioning mechanisms Yes Limited No
For Oracle9i: - Oracle9i database required 48% fewer administrative steps than Sybase for equivalent tasks.
- Oracle9i database required 56% less time than Sybase to perform equivalent tasks.
- Runs well on Sun 2.8.
- Database Servers
- Sybase understands one size doesn't fit all. Sybase offers three data stores
to fit your needs. The one you want it look at is Adaptive Server IQ Multiplex:
1.) Sybase Adaptive Server Enterprise
2.) SQL Anywhere Studio
3.) Adaptive Server IQ Multiplex is a high-performance relational database designed specifically from the ground up to meet the needs of business intelligence and a new generation of scalability requirements for Web-enabled data warehousing. - Sybase(r) Product
Compatible Operating Systems
Adaptive Server IQ 12.4.3 for 32-bit Sun Solaris
Sun Solaris 2.6 (SPARC) for 32-bit systems
Sun Solaris 2.7 (SPARC) for 32-bit systems
Sun Solaris 2.8 (SPARC) for 32-bit systems
Adaptive Server IQ 12.4.3 for 64-bit Sun Solaris
Sun Solaris 2.7 (SPARC) for 64-bit systems
Sun Solaris 2.8 (SPARC) for 64-bit systems
For More Information
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This was first published in March 2002
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