In an effort to encourage businesses to use palmtop personal computers as mobile access tools to enterprise systems, Palm Inc. released its HotSync Server and Microsoft Exchange Conduit solution.
The company said the products will allow large businesses to incorporate handheld computers into their mainstream information management systems. The HotSync Server is based on the ScoutWare technology from Aether Systems Inc.’s Aether Software division. The Microsoft Exchange Conduit solution was developed by Chapura Inc. and provides integration of Microsoft’s Exchange e-mail and calendar functions with the date-book and mail applications of handheld computers running the Palm operating system.
Also, 3Com Corp. said it reached a licensing agreement with Palm to include the operating system in upcoming 3Com Internet appliances. In particular, 3Com said it plans to integrate the HotSync technology.
Enterprise infrastructure solution provider CompuCom launched systems integration offerings supporting the HotSync Server as well. In addition, Synchrologic Inc. said its iMobile Data Synchronization product has been enhanced to support the new solution, while Peoplesoft said it will support the synchronization technology in future versions of its enterprise software products.
The launch represented a big win for Aether Software. As part of its international efforts, the company last week established Aether Software Ltd., headquartered in London. The wholly owned subsidiary aims to establish sales and support operations in Germany and Scandinavia to promote Aether’s ScoutWare line of software.
This is Aether’s second foray into the European market. It recently launched Sila Communications in conjunction with Reuters to provide wireless data services in Europe and Asia. The London-based subsidiary will work with Sila to complement each other’s services and provide end-to-end solutions.
“This is extremely important to our overall operations at Aether,” said Steve Brown, senior vice president of business development for Aether Systems. “The enterprise is the next big market segment to adopt wireless handsets and a key component to that is to synchronize with enterprise data. This is a significant step for Aether and Palm to deliver much more complete solutions.”
Brown said Palm’s current HotSync Server offering represents the initial phase of a more complete synchronization-based collusion between the two companies.
“There are many facets to our relationship with Palm,” Brown said. “The HotSync server deal basically is Palm using our core technology to deliver a synchronization solution to the marketplace. We are jointly developing at an engineering level a uniformed synchronization API and client architecture that will make us even closer in our relationship going forward. This is just the first step.”
Essentially, the HotSync deal allows Palm to resell Aether’s ScoutSync product to its users. The next step will be to integrate Aether’s synchronization technology more directly onto the Palm platform.
“It’s much more integrated into the basic functionality of the Palm OS as opposed to another product sitting atop the Palm platform,” Brown explained.
Besides greater integration, Brown said he expects more sophisticated technology at that time as well.
“Between now and when that develops, we’ll add significant functionality that will bring synchronization and management to the next level.”
Doing its part, Palm also agreed to acquire AnyDay.com, an Internet-based calendar solution firm, to add time- and location-sensitive personal information to its Internet solutions package. The acquisition, valued at about $80 million, is the first since Palm’s spinoff from 3Com earlier this year.
Synchronization technology has become an increasing concern among many wireless industry players, all eying the potentially lucrative enterprise market space.
The SyncML initiative last week released its first specification and reference toolkit aimed at standardizing synchronization technologies across wireless handsets, networks and applications. The specification includes a full description of the Extensible Markup Language based SyncML format and a first look at the SyncML protocol, as well as the toolkit.
The group also announced the SyncML Supporter Summit in Los Angeles scheduled for June 23.
Phone.com Inc. announced the immediate availability of its FoneSync Essentials synchronization system, supporting two-way synchronization, aimed more at the personal user at this time.
But Phone.com, Aether and all the other synchronization technology players can be expected to move increasingly toward enterprise back-office systems support in the very near future.
“We’re still at the early stages of this. Devices sold today are used as a personal information manager,” Brown said. “The next step in that is tying into legacy applications, ERP applications and server-based applications. This is the next step.”
