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PALM COMPUTING PLATFORM GAINS MOMENTUM

SANTA CLARA, Calif.-At the PalmSource ’99 conference, several companies announced support for the Palm computing platform, while others developed services formatted for the Palm VII connected organizer.

Nettech Systems Inc. said it will offer a middleware suite for corporate developers and independent software vendors to extend enterprise wireless data solutions for devices using the Palm operating system. Designed for the Palm III, V and VII lines, Nettech said its middleware solution will support a broad range of wireless airlink technologies, including all major packet data and circuit-switched networks. In addition, the middleware will support integrated and attachable modems like Novatel’s Minstrel.

The idea, Nettech said, is to make it easy for business and third-party software developers to build wireless business systems for Palm organizers and directly access enterprise data outside of the Palm.net service. Nettech said it envisions such uses as sales force automation, field support, database access and messaging.

Additionally, BarPoint.com and Yodlee.com introduced applications for 3Com’s Palm VII organizer. BarPoint.com’s BarPoint Shopper web clipping application allows users to buy certain products from its Web site using the Palm VII device. Shoppers can compare the price of a product in a store with that of a similar product in BarPoint’s product database by entering the product’s UPC code. The consumer then can decide which to buy, the product physically in hand, or the one available through BarPoint.

Yodlee.com’s Web clipping application gives users one-click access to personal account information, like travel reservations, bank accounts and credit card and utility bills.

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