Sybase Inc. has opened a 105,000-sq.-ft., three-story facility adjacent to Ontario’s University of Waterloo.
The move enables the infrastructure applications company to consolidate employees from three smaller facilities, strengthen its candidacy for research projects with the university and
facilitate the courting of computer science students.
Some 300 personnel will work in the building, which can accommodate up to 500 workers, capacity that will come in handy when Sybase ramps up its size.
The state-of-the-art building is the first to open in the University of Waterloo Research + Technology Park.
Sybase subsidiaries iAnywhere Solutions Inc., Financial Fusion Inc. and other Sybase business units will use the new facility.
iAnywhere, a provider of mobile and embedded databases and middleware, traces its roots back to Watcom International Corp., founded in 1981 out of the research of the University of Waterloo’s Computer Systems Group. Watcom was acquired by Powersoft Corp. in 1994, and Sybase merged with Powersoft in 1995.
Evolution
“”It’s a natural evolution of the relationship we’ve had with the university,”” Brian Vink, iAnywhere’s vice-president of marketing, said of the move to the research park.
According to Carol A. Stewart, the park’s manager of business development, one of the people who most supported the concept of the innovative research complex was Sybase Canada president Terry Stepien.
“”Terry Stepien has been a champion of the research and technology park, throwing his hat into the ring,”” said Stewart, who joined Watcom in the early stages of the firm’s database business.
She added that the plan is to eventually have a group of 12 to 15 companies in the research park.
According to Vink, being right on the university’s doorstep will better position the company as a contender for coveted research projects.
“”On the research side,”” he said, “”just the physical presence of our building allows us to be considered for outstanding research projects.””
But for a company that attracts many of the university’s co-op students, establishing an onsite presence also presents a golden opportunity, he said.
The university also has big expectations. “”Sybase is the first tenant, the anchor tenant of the park, so it’s a big move,”” said John Morris, the university’s media relations officer “”Hopefully it will attract others.””
The technology park, billed as a centre where innovation will be fostered and new business ventures will be supported, is the result of a $214-million partnership among the university, the Region of Waterloo, the City of Waterloo, the province, Ottawa, Communitech and Canada’s Technol-ogy Triangle.
The research park can accommodate 1.2 million sq. ft. of office space on 120 acres.
