Microsoft on Monday introduced an updated version of its SQL Server CE database for mobile devices as well as new developer tools to help support the product. The software vendor says SQL Server CE 2.0, which lets users of palmtop and smart-phone devices search and manipulate data whether they're online or offline, features a number of enhancements over its predecessor. Among them: connectivity wizards that ease the setup of security and connectivity options for data replication, an improved storage engine that now supports the same number of indexes per table (249) as SQL Server itself, and an easier-to-use interface to the query analyzer.

Microsoft also released a second beta edition of its .Net Compact Framework and Visual Studio .Net smart-device developer tools, aimed at making it easier for programmers to develop mobile .Net applications. .Net is Microsoft's implementation of Web services, a set of standards designed to let applications communicate with each other over the Internet, regardless of operating system or programming language.

A number of software developers said they would begin to use the new tools to develop, or help their customers develop, mobile .Net applications. FlyteComm Corp. said it would use the new offerings to create software that will make it easier for third-party developers to write programs that pull real-time flight status information into mobile devices. "Travelers today are desperate for accurate information that will make their trip easier," says Maurice Bailey, president and CEO at FlyteComm. Several other software developers, including Agilent Technologies, Computer Associates, GeoComm Systems, and Vertigo Software, also said they would use SQL Server CE 2.0 and its supporting tools.