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June 14, 1999

Data Capture Grows Wider

Small computing devices and embedded systems can feed large data warehouses, leading to potentially powerful data analysis

By Rick Whiting with Bruce Caldwell

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ata-management technology is moving in two directions--and they're polar opposites. At one extreme, tiny databases and microprocessor-equipped devices make it possible to extend data-capture capabilities to the farthest reaches of a company, as well as to partners and customers. At the other, data warehousing makes it feasible for companies to mine huge centralized databases. Alone, each approach presents powerful data-analysis potential; combined, they may be even more powerful.

Businesses have been using databases for years, but the data-analysis net is being cast wider and deeper. A growing number of companies are using mobile and embedded computing--Federal Express equips package-delivery personnel with handheld data entry devices, Lee Auto Parts hands out smart cards to customers, and Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center uses medication-dispensing systems with built-in databases--to gather data about their business and customers. Many others are building data marts and data warehouses.

Experts say these two trends will overlap as IT departments figure out ways to funnel data from the ever-expanding number of mobile and embedded computing devices into centralized databases. Once done, those data repositories can be subjected to data mining analysis and potentially lead to rich new sources of information. "That's the obvious next step," says Carl Zetie, a Giga Information Group analyst.

Increased Efficiency
A few companies have already begun to sync up their mobile- and embedded-computing initiatives with back-end databases for analysis. Federal Express has tens of thousands of devices in the field, ranging from the "supertracker" package-tracking and scanning devices carried by its delivery personnel to FedEx-supplied PCs in customers' mailrooms. While those devices make FedEx's operations more efficient, the package-delivery company is also analyzing the data collected to understand its customers better.

IBM is one of several vendors marketing products and services for mobile and embedded computing, also called pervasive computing, and the mining of centralized databases. "Pervasive computing is another way of saying that [computing] doesn't need the keyboard," says Nick Donofrio, IBM senior VP of technology and manufacturing. "It's going to be a million organizations and a billion people connected to a trillion devices."

The use of mobile- and embedded-computing technology is increasing rapidly. Research from Dataquest predicts worldwide shipments of handheld computers this year will surpass 5.7 million units, a 47% increase over last year, while sales of database software for embedded applications are expected to grow from $400 million in 1998 to $451.2 million this year. The number of U.S. subscribers to wireless data services--an important link in the pervasive-computing chain--will increase from 3 million this year to 36 million in 2003, Dataquest estimates.

Driving this growth is the rapidly decreasing size and cost of computing technology. Everything from 6-Kbyte databases to 64-Mbit memory chips costing just $6 can be built into handheld devices, special-purpose terminals, and even household appliances. The United Kingdom's ICL Ltd. recently debuted a prototype of a computerized refrigerator with a flat-panel display and bar-code reader that would let consumers scan product containers to build a shopping list that could be uploaded to a database server at a grocery store, which would then deliver those items.

Handheld devices continue to become more feature-rich, easy to use, and network-aware. 3Com Corp.'s PalmPilot VII, introduced last month, includes radio-frequency capabilities that let it access the Web and pull down data. A number of technology vendors, including ICL, and financial-services companies such as E-Trade Securities Inc. are in discussion with 3Com about potential applications for the personal digital assistant. Sharp Electronics Corp. is working on a PDA that can interact with Lotus Notes.

Cell phones are also morphing into data-collection and input devices. IBM, for instance, is working with Sabre Group Inc. and Nokia to deliver Sabre's business travel applications to Nokia mobile phones via the Internet.

Database vendors are at the center of the activity. In April, Sybase Inc. began shipping an UltraLite version of its SQL Anywhere portable database--which already has an installed base of nearly 4 million--with a "fingerprint" of about 50 Kbytes, or 1/20 the size of SQL Anywhere's 1-Mbyte memory footprint. Accompanying synchronization server software allows UltraLite to synchronize with back-end data sources.

Until now, the lack of such small databases has hindered the widespread use of application-specific portable computing devices for collecting data and sending it back to a central data store for analysis, says Chris Kleisath, product-management director in Sybase's mobile- and embedded-computing division. That's because the appli- cations and middleware had to be custom-developed.