Laying the groundwork for what it hopes will be a return to healthy sales growth, Sybase Inc. today unveiled the next major release of its database server and detailed plans to provide technology for building enterprise information portals.

While Sybase has returned to profitability after struggling through much of the 1990s, it has not been able to generate much sales growth. In its second fiscal quarter ended June 30, the company actually reported a decline in product sales. "I like to think that we are in the second year of a three-year plan," says Sybase president and CEO John Chen. "This year the task at hand is to really gain momentum."

Topping Sybase's list of new product offerings is Adaptive Server Enterprise 12.0, the company's flagship database software, with high availability features, XML support, Web transaction management capabilities, and native Java support. ASE 12.0 is expected to ship early in the fourth quarter.

Chen also said that ASE 12.0, Sybase's Enterprise Event Broker middleware, and other products will be designed for use within enterprise information portals. Sybase also launched its e-Map to e-Business program, a collection of consulting services and implementation methodologies to help customers turn business processes into E-business initiatives.