InformationWeek

June 23, 1999

Print this story

Mobile Makeover

continued...page 3 of 3

Related links from our sister publications:

Computer Reseller News Compaq enters Jupiter-class market

InternetWeek Spotlight On Verticals--Trading Hubs Gets Down To Business

The Jornada 680, priced at $899, supports health-care industry applications, including those from Patient Care Technologies Inc., Rensimer Enterprises Ltd., K2 Consultants Inc., and Pepid Inc. It's also suitable for the insurance and real-estate industries.

Specialized Software
In addition to equipping mobile workers with the right hardware, companies also are providing effective and functional software. Applications are available that broaden data access to handheld computer users. In addition, some vendors of general market software are developing versions of those applications for particular industries.

Cerulean Technology Inc. plans to ship MobileFusion this month, a Java client-server software package designed to give field-service workers broad access to business and Internet data over a wireless network. Cerulean says users of CE devices, Palm computers, and other handhelds will be able to query multiple servers simultaneously and receive instant responses. Using a keypad or stylus, users can access and update orders, customer contact information, service dispatches, and billing information residing on servers in an intranet or extranet. The cost will be $750 per user.

Difeo Oil and Propane Inc., a Brentwood, N.H., fuel supplier, plans to equip its fuel-service technicians with CE units loaded with the MobileFusion client software. MobileFusion will provide them with access to any changes pertaining to daily deliveries--information that resides on a Microsoft FoxPro database at headquarters--via a wireless modem connection. That will eliminate the hassle of reaching technicians on the road regarding route changes. "Drivers have 30 to 40 stops a day and are in and out of the truck constantly," says operations manager Rick Nighelli. "Trying to get in touch with these guys and transfer information to them is almost impossible."

Technicians will also input information on parts used during servicing, and that data will be routed to parts suppliers for rapid inventory replenishment.

Financial-services companies have a strong interest in specialized software, and a growing number of financial-services professionals are embracing mobile computing. The most important developments in this area are software applications that speed entry of and access to financial information stored in handheld devices.

This summer, GoldMine Software Corp. plans to port its recently released desktop and notebook application, GoldMine 4.0 Financial Services, to the Palm computing plat- form. The software, priced at $200 per user, includes templates with rules and terms specific to financial services and is designed to help financial pros input client information quickly and efficiently.

The software was developed partly on the suggestion of Brian Hein, senior VP of investor education at the Phoenix office of investment firm Salomon Smith Barney. Salespeople at the branch had been using GoldMine's standard contact-management software on notebook computers to sign up new clients, but the software was too generic, resulting in a cumbersome, time-intensive process.

Salomon Smith Barney recently rolled out the new application to salespeople on notebooks, and new account input has been reduced from an hour to 10 minutes, Hein says. Palm computers could provide salespeople with even more mobility than a notebook, and Salomon Smith Barney plans to test the software on those devices when it becomes available.

Although handheld computer use is sporadic for general business purposes, the devices have clearly found a niche in some industries. The result should be a proliferation of hardware and software that is specialized for industries but based on common platforms.