Pumatech Update To Meld Sync Engine With Management
nology more palatable to
IT managers.
The update, Enterprise Intellisync Second Edition, combines Pumatech's forms development tool with its synchronization engine, which exchanges data and e-mail between wired and wireless devices and the back-end server. A central management console lets IT managers control device access and distribute software and other updates.
The console will help mobile solution providers sell projects to enterprise IT departments, said Anthony Meadow, president of Oakland, Calif.-based Bear River Associates, a solution provider that is using Pumatech's forms development tool for some projects.
"It makes this kind of technology more acceptable to IT [staff," Meadow said. "Their big issues are how to manage devices accessing the network and keep software up to date."
Pumatech is looking to solution providers to help it penetrate large enterprise accounts as it rolls out the upgrade, said Richard Walker, the vendor's vice president of marketing. Solution providers can add value by helping IT staffs determine what kind of data should be accessed and distributed to mobile devices, and by providing customized forms development, he said.
"There is a lot of complexity for IT managers who are thinking about rolling out these kinds of applications," Walker said.
Currently, the forms tool supports only the Palm operating system and ODBC-compliant databases. It allows solution providers to create forms that access back-end databases and to keep certain data on a device offline when wireless access is unavailable.
The management console lets IT staff control application access per device. It also provides a query tool that shows which applications are installed on devices each time they're synchronized. Managers can send updates or remove software when syncs are completed.
Enterprise Intellisync Second Edition supports Palm and Pocket PC PDAs and WAP-compliant phones. Pricing ranges from $31 per seat for 10,000 or more users to $97 per seat for 10 to 24 users.