System Tables, Catalog Store, and IQ Main Store

an SAP Sybase IQ database is a joint data store.

The joint store consists of:

The catalog store includes system tables and stored procedures, and resides in a set of tables that are compatible with SQL Anywhere.
The permanent IQ main store is the set of SAP Sybase IQ tables. Table data is stored in indexes.
The temporary store consists of a set of temporary tables which the database server uses for sorting and other temporary processing.

Catalog distinctions and compatibility features include:

SQL Anywhere and SAP Sybase IQ use a different schema from Adaptive Server Enterprise for the catalog (tables, columns, and so on).
SQL Anywhere and SAP Sybase IQ provide compatibility views that mimic relevant parts of the Adaptive Server Enterprise system tables, although there are performance implications when using them.
In Adaptive Server Enterprise, the database owner (user ID dbo) owns the catalog objects.
In SQL Anywhere and SAP Sybase IQ, the system owner (user ID SYS) owns the catalog objects.

Note: A dbo user ID owns the Adaptive Server Enterprise-compatible system views provided by SAP Sybase IQ.