NEW YORK - Network executives attending PC Expo this week will see a new level of sophistication in wireless devices, networks, applications and tools.
The products reflect an appetite to master a bewildering variety of client platforms, their increased computing power and the need to link these devices more easily with corporate networks.
Some of what will be shown at PC Expo include:
Broadbeam will introduce ExpressWeb, a set of visual programming tools for building HTML and XML applications, plus a server program to host the applications and format them for any client device that runs a browser. The product is aimed at companies that want to deploy so-called thin-client Web applications - the applications run on a server, to which end users connect via a continuous wireless connection. Eventually, Broadbeam will blend ExpressWeb with ExpressQ, its client-server, wireless messaging middleware that links applications on handhelds with applications on the corporate network.
Mobileum is releasing Version 2.0 of its wireless server. One of the main changes is a new "presentation server" that takes the output of widely used Web development tools and translates it into the language, protocol and formats needed for display on a handheld device. Developers don't have to use a specialized set of wireless tools, the vendor's own protocols or formatting language. Instead, they can use Web tools from Adobe, Macromedia and Microsoft. The presentation includes a viewer that shows what the application will look like on various devices.
Like Broadbeam's ExpressWeb, Mobileum 2.0 is designed for devices using browsers to access applications and content. Mobileum runs as a Java application that extends the features of an underlying Java application server, such as BEA Systems' WebLogic, to handhelds using wireless networks.
To improve management of handheld devices, Pumatech is unveiling a management console for its Intellisync software that lets enterprise users synchronize certain data on their handhelds with groupware servers for Microsoft Exchange and Lotus Domino. The console program lets an administrator manage Intellisync software on desktop PCs, set password protections and access privileges by type of data, and change settings and synchronization options for different user groups. The console program will be part of the Enterprise Intellisync software bundle.
ZFrame, a Belmont, Mass., start-up, will introduce a beta-test release of a new type of wireless browser. ZFrame is a client browser, available first for Palm OS, and a server program that can retrieve content and serve it to the browser over a streamlined connection.
According to ZFrame, the software can reproduce on a PDA screen everything seen on a desktop PC screen. Instead of having to scroll through pages, users can work with a stylus to move the page around. The page content appears as a series of pop-ups. Users then zoom in or click on hyperlinks to see the details. ZFrame will be available as a browsing service for $22.50 per month or as an enterprise software license ranging from $25,000 to $150,000, depending on the number of users.
New client devices will abound at the show.
Symbol Technologies will show the Portable Pen Terminal 2800 running Microsoft PocketPC software. The device, although specialized for vertical markets rather than consumers, shows the hardware sophistication now possible, with little or no price increase.
The 2800 carries a 206-MHz StrongArm SA-1110 CPU, compared with the earlier model's 66-MHz NEC Vr chip. It also has 32M bytes of read-only memory and 32 of RAM, compared with 12 and 16, respectively, for the previous model.
The monochrome, quarter-VGA display (240-by-320 pixels) has higher contrast, a brighter backlight and an antireflective treatment.
Symbol estimates the price will be about $1,000, comparable to the previous model's price.
Novatel Wireless will introduce the Minstrel m500 modem for the Palm m500 and m505 handhelds, and the Merlin G100 PC card for the GPRS 1900 North American band, to support speeds of up to 53.6K bits/sec where GPRS nets are deployed (and up to 14.4 via circuit-switched data connections in GSM nets).
