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3GSM World Congress Not Just for Carriers


Mobile industry’s largest conference gets enterprise attention

By Edward J. Correia
February 15, 2006 — 
More than 40,000 people from around the globe are expected to pass through the gates of Spain’s Fira de Barcelona Feb. 13-16 to see and hear about new mobile devices, mobile applications and the platforms used to development them.

For companies worried about a Blackberry blackout in light of recent litigations involving device maker Research In Motion, Funambol was showing an open-source alternative. The Redwood City, Calif.-based developer unveiled what it claims is a drop-in replacement for RIM’s Blackberry Enterprise Server.

Funambol 3, the latest version of its mobile synchronization server, adds push capabilities for Blackberry devices and for those running Windows Mobile, Palm OS, SyncML and WAP applications. “We position Funambol as a safe, open-source alternative to RIM; if you go with open source, you control your own destiny,” said Funambol CEO Fabrizio Capobianco. “The beauty of the Blackberry is that you get notified when something happens and you can react to it. We believe that all applications should work that way.”

The Funambol synchronization API permits developers to build C++, J2ME or J2SE applications that work with or without a connection, said Capobianco. “That automatically takes care of the data synchronization; the local [device-side] database is the real one,” he said. Client-side databases from ObjectStore and Hypersonic are supported. The ideal server-side stack, according to Capobianco, consists of Linux, JBoss and MySQL, but Funambol also works with Oracle, WebLogic and Windows, as well as Domino, Exchange, IMAP, POP and Sybase systems, he said.

Another company that stands to gain from a squashed Blackberry is Intellisync, which released Intellisync Mobile Suite 7 with an improved interface and stronger support for e-mail systems and devices. Intellisync has seen increased interest in its products following RIM’s legal activities, according to a company spokesperson.

Intellisync tools handle synchronization between mobile devices and back-end systems from BEA, IBM and Microsoft, as well as for IMAP and POP e-mail systems. The company in January added support for Lotus Notes and Domino. The tools support a variety of mobile devices including Blackberries and those running Palm OS, Symbian OS and Windows Mobile. Nokia in November agreed to acquire Intellisync for about US$430 million; the deal has cleared antitrust scrutiny and now awaits shareholder approval.

Nokia itself made a series of announcements, including its plans to contribute its implementation of Python for S60 (formerly Series 60) to the open-source community. Currently hosted on the company’s Forum Nokia developer Web site, tools include an interpreter based on Python 2.2.2, Python standard libraries, a script shell, some native extensions and a Python console, according to the site. The tools, which work with S60 SDKs for desktop PCs, will reportedly be hosted on SourceForge.net.

The cell phone giant also unveiled Forum Nokia Pro Flash, a version of its fee-based premium developer support service for enterprise developers that will focus on building rich mobile phone applications based on Adobe’s Flash Lite technology. Nokia also planned to release the third edition of its C++ SDK for S60 devices, but was not ready to speak publicly about new features at press time.

ActionEngine has updated its software development kit for its Mobile Application Platform (MAP). The company’s flagship, MAP is a browserless client/server environment for creating XML- and XHTML-based transactional applications that also can integrate with PIM apps and native smartphone features.

The SDK works with Visual Studio and includes plug-ins for helping .NET developers collect data from Web-based sources, a database designer for creating data-driven user interfaces, and a tool for migrating existing SQL Server databases toMAP and generating server-side scripts to make it work.


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