Why You Might Want a Local Database

Here's one reason not to put absolute trust in the internet: Ship’s Anchor Cuts Cables, Killing Internet in India, Mideast.

Image from NOAA.

...bad news for database applications that rely on continuous internet access to support remote users.

The alternative (of course!) is to use a local SQL Anywhere database at each remote client location, plus a central enterprise database (SQL Anywhere if they'll let you, Oracle or whatever if they won't) for aggregation, dissemination and communication, and then use MobiLink to get all the databases back in sync when the internet is working again.