Oracle Corp. introduced wireless Internet software called Portal-to-Go, a universal translator of sorts designed to allow wireless devices to communicate with any Internet site, intranet database or network-aware appliance.
Based on Oracle’s Internet database software, Portal-to-Go is available to carriers, Internet content providers or enterprise network operators. Once installed, the portal handles all the translation functions needed to transmit content from virtually any source to any device, said the company.
At least initially, the product is expected to be a valuable complementary technology to Wireless Application Protocol products.
Carriers with a WAP architecture in place can offer subscribers with WAP-enabled phones a bevy of Internet-content services. But Internet information transmitted via WAP technology must be written to WAP standards. While many Internet sites have written content in Wireless Markup Language for such transmission, reams of information available on the Internet in Hypertext Markup Language is not formatted for wireless devices.
“There’s no way all the HTML-written Web sites are going to be rewritten to WML,” said Denise Lahey, vice president of mobile and embedded products for Oracle’s Data Server Division. “It would take 10 years. Portal-to-Go gets rid of that dependency. It rewrites it for you.”
Portal-to-Go (formerly called Project Panama) reformats non-WAP Internet content into something WAP phones can understand, thereby increasing the content accessible to them.
Carriers using Portal-to-Go must choose what non-WAP Internet content they wish to offer customers, then use the included tool kit to translate this non-WAP content and add it to the service options on their custom-made Internet portal.
In other words, customers cannot just type in any old Internet site address and expect immediate translation. They are limited by the choices the carrier gives them. However, Portal-to-Go does increase the range of Internet services from which carriers can choose to offer customers-from WAP-only sites to all Internet sites.
WAP pioneer Phone.com Inc. expressed support for the new technology as a means of promoting wireless Internet services.
“We expect that the introduction of Oracle Portal-to-Go will propel the WAP standard and adoption of wireless Internet access and services,” said Ben Linder, Phone.com vice president of marketing.
However, Portal-to-Go is much more than a complementary technology to WAP. It translates information to any browser, not just those based on WAP.
Also, it includes Motorola Inc.’s VoxML, a voice-based Web browsing technology that allows users to access the Internet on phones without a microbrowser by simply speaking aloud the site you wish to visit. Of course, the company hosting the content must have a voice gateway for the information to be read back.
Portal-to-Go also is available to Internet content providers and enterprise network operators. This means that a user with a Web-enabled phone who is a customer of a carrier without the Portal-to-Go solution can access certain non-WAP Internet sites if that site has integrated Portal-to-Go itself.
For instance, MapQuest bought the portal so phone users can access its content regardless of whether their respective carriers have integrated Portal-to-Go.
“With Oracle Portal-to-Go, MapQuest will reach users on any wireless device and we don’t have to rewrite our content or worry about the standards involved,” said David Ingerman, vice president of marketing at MapQuest.
OpenSky also has integrated the technology.
“Oracle Portal-to-Go gives us unparalleled flexibility and scalability in designing Internet services for any wireless device without writing a single line of code,” said Pat McVey, chief executive officer of OpenSky.
Going further, an enterprise could add Portal-to-Go to its intranet, allowing employees with browser-enabled devices to access corporate database information at will.
Additionally, Oracle designed Portal-to-Go with e-commerce solutions in mind. The product provides all the security measures necessary and packages the information specifically to allow transactions to take place as easily as possible.
Aside from buying products over the Internet, Portal-to-Go also allows users to buy products from network-aware vending machines, such as those equipped with Sun Microsystems Inc.’s Jini software. According to Lahey, if a user with a Web-enabled phone and Portal-to-Go service were to enter a room with such a machine, he or she would receive a notification on the phone of what appliances were capable of accepting e-commerce transactions from the phone and proceed with a purchase.
Carriers such as Telia of Sweden have deals with certain product vendors under which their customers, may make such transactions using “Telia dollars,” Lahey said.
The solution also would allow users to control other network-aware appliances, such as lights, televisions or garage doors.
“We view the device as a remote control for your life,” Lahey said.
Portal-to-Go is available to carriers and content providers, branded as their own, for a fee of $2 per user, per year.
Carriers Cegetel, E-Plus, Libertel and Telia Mobile already have developed various new applications such as travel, mobile banking, ticket purchasing, flight information and real-time auctions using the software.
