02
Sat, Nov
2 New Articles
  1. You are here:  
  2. Home
  3. MORE
  4. Commentary
  5. Commentary
  6. Palm Embraces IBM's WebSphere Micro Environment

Palm Embraces IBM's WebSphere Micro Environment

Commentary
Typography
  • Smaller Small Medium Big Bigger
  • Default Helvetica Segoe Georgia Times

Personal Digital Assistants (PDAs) have had a rough year in the global marketplace--particularly in the Asian markets, which dropped 22% in the first quarter of 2003. However, Palm Computing is figuring that the market will begin to turn as companies extend their wireless networks out to reach these pervasive computing devices.

With this in mind, on June 9, 2003, Palm and IBM announced at the JavaOne conference in San Francisco that enterprise Java applications can now be run on the Palm Tungsten PDA, extending the capabilities of these devices into the realm of enterprise level e-business.

The Palm Tungsten PDA is Palm's top-of-the-line device, with WI-FI 802.11b connectivity and Windows Office compatibility. However, its success in the marketplace has been hampered by its relatively steep price, especially in the Asia-Pacific market, where Compaq's iPAQ Pocket PC outstripped the Palm to gain the dominant market share in the first quarter of this year. Palm, by licensing IBM's WebSphere Micro Environment (WME), is now hoping to give corporate customers a real tool for enterprise integration to company databases and applications.

Overcoming Developer Problems

One of the problems facing both Palm and Microsoft device developers has been the application development environments. These environments have been difficult for corporate developers to embrace because there have been two different operating system standards in the market: Palm OS and Microsoft Windows CE. Integrating these environments into a corporate e-business scenario has required a tremendous effort.

However, IBM's WME may now provide Palm the platform that it needs to extend the reach of its Tungsten devices beyond the realm of the strictly personal device.

In the past, applications built for Palm OS have required specialized development environments, while the differing CPUs in each device have often made it difficult to standardize. Furthermore, the rapid evolution of PDA CPUs over the past several years has put added strain on issues of compatibility for developers. In order for a company to achieve a reasonable return on investment (ROI) for its application development efforts, developers needed a stable and extensible platform.

But the volatility of the PDA marketplace--combined with the rapid evolution of PDA technology in the wireless market--has thwarted developers' past efforts to create a standards-based killer app beyond wireless email. Meanwhile, Palm and Microsoft have focused on the consumer market, and this focus has pushed the PDA into the realm of commodity appliances. As a result, corporate PDA application developers have often experienced a familiar but frustrating cycle of development woe: development cycles that outlive the devices for which they were targeted.

Beyond Utility PDA Applications

One past approach that has proven successful for some corporations has been the use of connectivity utilities and service programs, such as Palm's Web clipping for HTML or AvantGo's Pylon. These utilities provide connectivity to the World Wide Web and--in the case of AvantGo--connectivity to Microsoft Exchange and Lotus Notes workflow systems. Other utilities--such as Mobipocket, Adobe Acrobat, and Palm Digital Media's and Microsoft's e-book utilities--try to bridge the gap for delivering large document-based information. Meanwhile, spreadsheet and word processing utility interfaces also abound, such as DataViz's Documents To Go.

However, for the corporate developer, creating a comprehensive interface to the corporate database has often been a frustrating process of piecing together disparate utilities that are frequently compromises and that require significant user training and handholding. This problem is accentuated by non-standard user interfaces that are often non-intuitive and database synchronization glitches that make the results more trouble than they're worth.

IBM's WME

IBM's WME promises to lift the developers' burden while offering a better ROI for corporations. It provides an end-to-end solution that can connect cellular phones as well as PDAs and other pervasive devices to back-end e-business applications. It accomplishes this with a Java-powered runtime environment that is Java 2 Micro Edition (J2ME)-compliant--a specification that was developed by the Java Community Process. It uses the same WebSphere programming model as other WebSphere products and works in the WebSphere Development Studio IDE. At the same time, it uses a messaging interface to MQSeries Everyplace. The overall scalability of this environment should help refresh the capabilities of the Palm PDA environment while providing WebSphere-based enterprises with the first standardized toolkit to deliver applications down to the PDA.

Java Capabilities Delivered Soon to Palm Tungsten

Applications written with any Java development tool will be able to run on the Tungstens through WME, but IBM said at JavaOne that WebSphere Studio Device Developer will be optimized for creating Palm-based Java applications. In addition, Palm will offer a free development toolkit that will work with WebSphere Studio Device Developer.

WME will become available as a download for Tungsten users in September and probably will ship with new Tungsten devices starting early next year.

Thomas M. Stockwell is the Editor in Chief of MC Press, LLC. He has written extensively about program development, project management, IT management, and IT consulting and has been a frequent contributor to many midrange periodicals. He has authored numerous white papers for iSeries solutions providers. His most recent consulting assignments have been as a Senior Industry Analyst working with IBM on the iSeries, on the mid-market, and specifically on WebSphere brand positioning. He welcomes your comments about this or other articles and can be reached at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it..

Thomas Stockwell

Thomas M. Stockwell is an independent IT analyst and writer. He is the former Editor in Chief of MC Press Online and Midrange Computing magazine and has over 20 years of experience as a programmer, systems engineer, IT director, industry analyst, author, speaker, consultant, and editor.  

 

Tom works from his home in the Napa Valley in California. He can be reached at ITincendiary.com.

 

 

BLOG COMMENTS POWERED BY DISQUS

LATEST COMMENTS

Support MC Press Online

$

Book Reviews

Resource Center

  • SB Profound WC 5536 Have you been wondering about Node.js? Our free Node.js Webinar Series takes you from total beginner to creating a fully-functional IBM i Node.js business application. You can find Part 1 here. In Part 2 of our free Node.js Webinar Series, Brian May teaches you the different tooling options available for writing code, debugging, and using Git for version control. Brian will briefly discuss the different tools available, and demonstrate his preferred setup for Node development on IBM i or any platform. Attend this webinar to learn:

  • SB Profound WP 5539More than ever, there is a demand for IT to deliver innovation. Your IBM i has been an essential part of your business operations for years. However, your organization may struggle to maintain the current system and implement new projects. The thousands of customers we've worked with and surveyed state that expectations regarding the digital footprint and vision of the company are not aligned with the current IT environment.

  • SB HelpSystems ROBOT Generic IBM announced the E1080 servers using the latest Power10 processor in September 2021. The most powerful processor from IBM to date, Power10 is designed to handle the demands of doing business in today’s high-tech atmosphere, including running cloud applications, supporting big data, and managing AI workloads. But what does Power10 mean for your data center? In this recorded webinar, IBMers Dan Sundt and Dylan Boday join IBM Power Champion Tom Huntington for a discussion on why Power10 technology is the right strategic investment if you run IBM i, AIX, or Linux. In this action-packed hour, Tom will share trends from the IBM i and AIX user communities while Dan and Dylan dive into the tech specs for key hardware, including:

  • Magic MarkTRY the one package that solves all your document design and printing challenges on all your platforms. Produce bar code labels, electronic forms, ad hoc reports, and RFID tags – without programming! MarkMagic is the only document design and print solution that combines report writing, WYSIWYG label and forms design, and conditional printing in one integrated product. Make sure your data survives when catastrophe hits. Request your trial now!  Request Now.

  • SB HelpSystems ROBOT GenericForms of ransomware has been around for over 30 years, and with more and more organizations suffering attacks each year, it continues to endure. What has made ransomware such a durable threat and what is the best way to combat it? In order to prevent ransomware, organizations must first understand how it works.

  • SB HelpSystems ROBOT GenericIT security is a top priority for businesses around the world, but most IBM i pros don’t know where to begin—and most cybersecurity experts don’t know IBM i. In this session, Robin Tatam explores the business impact of lax IBM i security, the top vulnerabilities putting IBM i at risk, and the steps you can take to protect your organization. If you’re looking to avoid unexpected downtime or corrupted data, you don’t want to miss this session.

  • SB HelpSystems ROBOT GenericCan you trust all of your users all of the time? A typical end user receives 16 malicious emails each month, but only 17 percent of these phishing campaigns are reported to IT. Once an attack is underway, most organizations won’t discover the breach until six months later. A staggering amount of damage can occur in that time. Despite these risks, 93 percent of organizations are leaving their IBM i systems vulnerable to cybercrime. In this on-demand webinar, IBM i security experts Robin Tatam and Sandi Moore will reveal:

  • FORTRA Disaster protection is vital to every business. Yet, it often consists of patched together procedures that are prone to error. From automatic backups to data encryption to media management, Robot automates the routine (yet often complex) tasks of iSeries backup and recovery, saving you time and money and making the process safer and more reliable. Automate your backups with the Robot Backup and Recovery Solution. Key features include:

  • FORTRAManaging messages on your IBM i can be more than a full-time job if you have to do it manually. Messages need a response and resources must be monitored—often over multiple systems and across platforms. How can you be sure you won’t miss important system events? Automate your message center with the Robot Message Management Solution. Key features include:

  • FORTRAThe thought of printing, distributing, and storing iSeries reports manually may reduce you to tears. Paper and labor costs associated with report generation can spiral out of control. Mountains of paper threaten to swamp your files. Robot automates report bursting, distribution, bundling, and archiving, and offers secure, selective online report viewing. Manage your reports with the Robot Report Management Solution. Key features include:

  • FORTRAFor over 30 years, Robot has been a leader in systems management for IBM i. With batch job creation and scheduling at its core, the Robot Job Scheduling Solution reduces the opportunity for human error and helps you maintain service levels, automating even the biggest, most complex runbooks. Manage your job schedule with the Robot Job Scheduling Solution. Key features include:

  • LANSA Business users want new applications now. Market and regulatory pressures require faster application updates and delivery into production. Your IBM i developers may be approaching retirement, and you see no sure way to fill their positions with experienced developers. In addition, you may be caught between maintaining your existing applications and the uncertainty of moving to something new.

  • LANSAWhen it comes to creating your business applications, there are hundreds of coding platforms and programming languages to choose from. These options range from very complex traditional programming languages to Low-Code platforms where sometimes no traditional coding experience is needed. Download our whitepaper, The Power of Writing Code in a Low-Code Solution, and:

  • LANSASupply Chain is becoming increasingly complex and unpredictable. From raw materials for manufacturing to food supply chains, the journey from source to production to delivery to consumers is marred with inefficiencies, manual processes, shortages, recalls, counterfeits, and scandals. In this webinar, we discuss how:

  • The MC Resource Centers bring you the widest selection of white papers, trial software, and on-demand webcasts for you to choose from. >> Review the list of White Papers, Trial Software or On-Demand Webcast at the MC Press Resource Center. >> Add the items to yru Cart and complet he checkout process and submit

  • Profound Logic Have you been wondering about Node.js? Our free Node.js Webinar Series takes you from total beginner to creating a fully-functional IBM i Node.js business application.

  • SB Profound WC 5536Join us for this hour-long webcast that will explore:

  • Fortra IT managers hoping to find new IBM i talent are discovering that the pool of experienced RPG programmers and operators or administrators with intimate knowledge of the operating system and the applications that run on it is small. This begs the question: How will you manage the platform that supports such a big part of your business? This guide offers strategies and software suggestions to help you plan IT staffing and resources and smooth the transition after your AS/400 talent retires. Read on to learn: