Left behind in the mainstream database market, Sybase (SYBS) and Informix (IFMX) have unveiled strategies to take advantage of faster-growing fields. The Internet has pointed the way to two main opportunities:

1. Data warehouses -- large-scale servers that store information about products, transactions, and customer behavior -- are proving key to electronic commerce.
2. Mobile computing, on handhelds and laptops only occasionally connected to corporate networks, has driven demand for lightweight databases that can hook into data centers as needed, to provide information on demand.

Led by John Chen, the company's recently appointed chairman and CEO, Sybase's reaction to these developing markets has been to reorganize the company around four divisions: mobile computing, Internet applications, enterprise computing, and business intelligence tools.

Informix, meanwhile, has struggled back from accounting problems that forced it to restate years of revenues and undergo a simultaneous turnover in its executive ranks. With research and development largely on hold, the company has looked outside to fill out its product line. It recently agreed to acquire Red Brick Systems, a Los Gatos-based maker of data warehouses, and partnered with Cloudscape, an Oakland startup that markets all-Java databases for mobile computing.

Both Sybase and Informix face a tough road ahead. Oracle (ORCL) and IBM (IBM) still dominate the database market; each computing giant owns more than a quarter of the $6.6 billion market, according to Dataquest, a technology research firm. Microsoft (MSFT) has another 15 percent, while Informix and Sybase have less than 5 percent each.

Nowhere to hide"If either of those vendors think they're avoiding Oracle in their strategy, they're mistaken," says Merv Adrian, an analyst at Giga Information Group. "It's fair to say that Sybase has all but conceded the pure database play to Oracle."

The large players are not ignoring emerging database markets by any means, says Mr. Adrian. IBM, for example, plans to roll out a mobile version of its DB2 database early next year, while Oracle has already introduced Oracle Lite.

Carolyn DiCenzo, a Dataquest analyst, says Microsoft was likely to introduce a similar mobile product for the Windows CE platform, based on its desktop-oriented Access database.

Mr. Adrian thinks that Sybase's reorganization is well-conceived, but only time will tell if it will lead to a successful turnaround. Similarly, Informix's Red Brick acquisition -- which recently won SEC approval and is expected to close by the end of the year -- and its partnership with Cloudscape bear watching.

"[Informix's] relationship with Cloudscape gives them a product that's out in the market; it has a Java base, so it's not a me-too product," says Ms. DiCenzo.

"If you have a pure Java database, then you have dramatically reduced the cost of deployment -- because you're platform-independent -- and the cost of maintenance -- because you can update the code," says Malcolm Colton, Cloudscape's vice president of marketing. "Informix has taken not just a step to catch up, but a leap past the competition."

Lean on meBesides the Informix deal, Cloudscape has struck partnerships with a number of other Java vendors and announced sales to customers like Dow Jones and Science Applications International Corporation.

"Cloudscape is new, emerging, effective, and well-regarded," says Mr. Adrian. "They have a strong team and a good product."

However, Ms. DiCenzo argues that the Informix partnership may prove key to Cloudscape's future.

"Cloudscape really cannot succeed as a stand-alone player," says Ms. DiCenzo. "Most of the mobile applications really hook to corporate apps. [Cloudscape] really needs a relationship with a preferred vendor who can promote their product. Informix needs Cloudscape, and Cloudscape needs Informix."

It's a small world, after all: Cloudscape CEO Tom Henn was previously Red Brick's VP of sales, and Informix cofounder Roger Sippl is an investor in Cloudscape. Mr. Colton, for his part, is a veteran of both Sybase and Informix.