In the months before the wireless Internet wave began to take shape, Infowave Software Inc. introduced a desktop software solution called Symmetry that would forward e-mail messages to wireless devices.
At the time, it was the company’s centerpiece product. Since then, Infowave has evolved to offer a more complete client-server solution based on a new company keystone-the Wireless Business Engine.
“The Wireless Business Engine is the server-side software that can communicate with the back-end systems as well as talk to the devices,” said Ron Jasper, vice president of marketing at the British Columbia-based firm. “It involves several things. … Transcoding, security, data compression, reliability and there is some sync in there as well.”
Infowave is marketing the product to enterprise customers interested in hosting their own enterprise applications behind the firewall, or to wireless application service providers to host services for others. Products stemming from the platform include Infowave for Exchange, Infowave FirstHand and Infowave for the Net.
Infowave for Exchange allows users of personal digital assistants and WAP phones to access e-mail and personal information management functions. A subset of this is Infowave FirstHand, which supports only WAP phones. Infowave for the Net expands past e-mail and PIM functions to more intranet, extranet and Internet availability and other applications. Today it only supports HTML browser-enabled devices, like laptops and PDAs.
“Our view is a wireless business engine has to do two things. One is talk to a range of applications and the other is that it has to do it on devices that people choose,” Jasper said. “We’ll continue to broaden our support of devices and networks as well as optimize the service to make it faster and more useful to customers. We want to push deeper into the application space.”
Infowave wants to set itself apart from competitors like Research In Motion Ltd., which offers a similar solution but on specific devices, and Aether Systems Inc., which targets custom applications.
Focusing primarily on the enterprise space, Infowave has formed strong partnerships with both Compaq Computer Corp. and Intel Corp. for distribution. Compaq’s Business Solutions for Exchange sells the Infowave suite. Compaq also has a deal with RIM (See story on page 36), under which Compaq will resell RIM’s BlackBerry solution on BlackBerry RIM devices, branded as Compaq iPAQ. Compaq’s own iPAQ-powered solution uses Infowave software and a wireless modem from Sierra Wireless, as well as airtime.
Infowave also has a five-year deal with Intel, under which Infowave provides its Wireless Business Engine client-server suite to co-develop new products.
“We feel these two big partners are helping us assume a position of being the computing industry’s choice. When they look for the right partner, they do a lot of due diligence,” Jasper said. Through computing partnerships, Infowave then reaches enterprise customers.
“Who understands the enterprise more than the computing industry?” Jasper asked. “Who’s delivering existing applications to customers?”
