The wireless Internet’s influence on the wired Web is often portrayed as a positive, allowing people to access the information previously available only when hooked to a wire from a variety of mobile devices has opened up new possibilities for Internet-based services.
Unfortunately, those who have to translate content from the wired Internet to the wireless Web are often faced with learning a new programming language that has yet to settle on a standard.
Attempting to ease the transition to the wireless Web, AlterEgo Networks Inc. introduced its Mobile Web Server 2.0 and Designer 2.0 software. The server-based software is designed to offer enterprises, carriers and Internet service providers a scalable platform to deploy enterprise applications and Web content to any type of wireless or wired device, including cellular phones, personal digital assistants, two-way pagers and Internet appliances.
“To meet the business demands of the mobile Internet, enterprises, carriers and service providers require a high-performance, reliable solution that protects the investments made in existing infrastructure,” said Richard Ling, president and chief executive officer of AlterEgo. “Without duplicating the capabilities already in place with applications servers and Web servers, Mobile Web Server addresses these challenges with the most advanced path for extending enterprise applications and Internet content to any device.”
The Mobile Web Server is designed to leverage the core technology currently deployed throughout the 10 nodes within AlterEgo’s Adaptive Network, performing content adaptation, image transformation and bandwidth detection needed to convert existing data to wireless devices.
Ling noted that one of the main advantages of the server is its easy integration into existing Web infrastructures. The server sits at the presentation layer, taking existing Web infrastructure output in HTML, XML and XSL formats and adapting it for all targeted wireless devices requesting information.
The server also sits behind an enterprise’s existing firewall, allowing companies to use their current security measures. Ling said this was especially important for the strict security needs of financial institutions that provide access to their services through wireless devices.
In conjunction with the Mobile Web Server 2.0, AlterEgo’s Designer 2.0 allows companies to adapt existing HTML content into XML-based adaption rules using highly graphical drag and drop tools. The service allows content designers to work in real time to simulate a target device on screen and preview each conversion as it is implemented.
Ling noted the scalability and performance of this software has been proven through its AirLoom wireless application service provider partnership with Aether Systems Inc. That service, launched earlier this year, was designed to extend enterprise and consumer content to browser-enabled wireless devices.
While the scope of information available on wireless devices is still small compared with its wired brother, analysts look to these types of services to bridge that gap.
“The promise of XML-based technologies is the empowerment of enterprises who publish and communicate over the Internet to address all of their stakeholders regardless of device and access,” said Mark Plakias, vice president of voice and wireless commerce at The Kelsey Group. “With the proliferation of wireless, presentation solutions like the Mobile Web Server point toward a near-term future where intelligence at the edge delaminates devices, access and presentation from the core content and applications server. The day is coming when HTML is just one of the many formats that enterprises and their service providers communicate through.”
