IBM plans early in 2002 to unite its relational database wireless synchronization engine with the Lotus Domino Everyplace Server, in a new release of the WebSphere Everyplace Server family of software.
The move is part of IBM"s ongoing effort to realize closer technology ties with its Lotus Software subsidiary and to provide a more complete wireless synchronization offering to customers looking to wireless-enable business applications and information.
IBM"s DB2 Everyplace with relational database synchronization capabilities will come together with the e-mail and PIM synchronization in Lotus Domino Everyplace, in an attempt to address the requirement for synchronization that underlies enterprise efforts to extend e-mail and applications to wireless devices, said Jon Prial, vice president of marketing in the pervasive computing division at IBM, based in Armonk, N.Y.
"Between those two elements [e-mail and relational database synchronization] you have all you need to deliver the information to the device," he said.
Expected in the first quarter of 2002, the WebSphere Everyplace software family also will ship with support for the SyncML standard, an XML-based technology designed to enable synchronization of remote data and personal information across multiple networks, platforms and devices. IBM and Lotus are founding sponsors of the SyncML Initiative.
SyncML support is critical to create the greatest amount of interoperability between all types of devices and servers, Prial said.
"You cannot limit what it is someone can do with one of these devices and who they can synch up with. We have to open that wide with open standards," he said.