DG: What about simple security concerns, like if somebody loses their Palm device?

JP: Now the flipside, the second question, is you have a lot of information available in your briefcase today on paper. You have a lot of information available on your laptop computer such as an IBM ThinkPad today. Those are at risk as well, if you lose them or break them. You've got similar issues with devices that people are going to carry in their pockets. It's one of those tradeoffs individuals are going to have to make between the convenience of access and the risk of leaving it on the taxicab seat.

DG: Let's talk about what kind of business can take advantage of this new IBM/Palm relationship.

JP: The key to all these questions really is application specific. We talked earlier about some cross-industry applications such as mail functions leveraging a Lotus Domino infrastructure, for example. We're finding most of the industries are really ready for pervasive solutions. We see finance, industry, retail, distribution, travel, and transportation, a wide range of solutions that are all available. They're all focused on enabling these applications on this new class of devices such as the Palm platform.

DG: What does IBM expect from this relationship?

JP: Well, IBM is focused on delivering complete solutions. We do an awful lot to consult with our customers on the right type of applications to really leverage that vision of e-business. Complete solutions run all the way from consulting up front to the hardware and software infrastructure all the way to the devices. And our relationship with Palm allows us to have a more complete solution very much focused on a leading edge market-leading platform such as the Palm.

DG: What should enterprises expect to see in the next six months or so from this relationship?

JP: Enterprises should be looking for more solutions being delivered from IBM and Palm focused on specific applications that will run on the Palm platform and integrate with existing IT applications. Examples include banking applications, shopping applications, transportation tracking applications, and distribution tracking applications. All where there's an application on the Palm device, which is, of course, tightly integrated with a back end e-business solution.

DG: Why is it that IBM took the Palm computing platform and branded it as an IBM solution and where are you going with it?

JP: IBM is focused on complete solutions for the enterprise. So we would not expect to see consumers looking to purchase IBM WorkPads at an electronics store, rather we work with our end-user execs and our IT execs for complete solutions. We'd expect to be selling solutions that would have volumes of IBM WorkPads being sold to an enterprise or deployed by their users or their employees. And our focus on the technology is to really focus on enterprise-class solutions. So, for example, IBM has DB2 Everyplace, which is a very compact relational database that runs on the Palm platform, allowing for real robust applications to be created for their platform. For example, that Safeway shopping application uses our Easi-Order Shopping application and that's been built on the DB2 Everyplace platform.