Through this agreement, Palm can address several important issues its enterprise customers have: seamless integration, security, and reliability. The idea is that the two companies will promote XTNDConnect Server Software to developers, which will spawn greater application development for deployment of the Palm family of handhelds within enterprises. By reselling XTNDConnect Server, Palm becomes a single vendor that can provide hardware and software that allows seamless integration of mobile devices into corporate IT infrastructures. The advantage for Extended Systems, says Taylor, is that they get the benefit of being able to work with other companies.

What is XTNDConnect Server?
Simply put, XTNDConnect Server provides mobile devices like Palm handhelds with behind-the-firewall access to real-time business information. Any corporate information that resides on your company's Microsoft Exchange, Lotus Domino, and ODBC (Open Data Base Connectivity)-compliant database servers will be accessible from Palm OS handhelds.

The executives of both companies agree that offering enterprise customers a combined solution of Palm's handheld computer technologies and Extended Systems' mobile infrastructure software will lead to broader adoption of mobile devices. Palm and Extended Systems also plan to work together to provide a migration path for existing customers using Palm's previous enterprise-class synchronization software, HotSync Server.

Early foray into the enterprise
Taylor believes that it's to Extended Systems' benefit that solutions providers like Palm are turning attention to addressing the needs of the enterprise, as it means their plan has been right all along. "Maybe we were a little early," Taylor concedes. "IT certainly wasn't ready for the type of technology that we provide. It is still having a hard time, to some degree, putting all of the pieces together. What type of software do I need? What type of infrastructure do I need? What devices should I have? How am I going to manage it?"

The current adoption of handheld computers can be compared to laptops a few years ago. As laptops started to come into the corporation, IT was very afraid of what was going to happen. There's one difference, however. By and large, laptops were being bought by departments at that time. PDAs are being brought in by individuals. It's a whole different game with PDAs, because senior vice presidents are walking in with something that doesn't fit into the IT strategy at all.

Taylor agreed and added, "One of the benefits of our product over our competitor's products is that it supports multiple devices. So, we don't care what type of device you use, and we don't care what type of connection you want to make. So, you can be using a modem, you can have an 802.11 wireless modem, you can access your information that way. You can put it in a cradle, which is a more traditional way for being in the field entering data and updating data. When you get back, you can synchronize through the cradle and update the data."