SANTA CLARA, Calif.-JP Systems introduced a new platform at CTIA’s Wireless I.T. show last week called SureWave, along with a WAP browser for Palm OS devices, supporting the Palm Query Application over multiple wireless networks.
The SureWave platform replaces the firm’s InfoBeam technology as its flagship product. SureWave consists of a protocol gateway, transaction engine and transcoding engine. The gateway communicates with multiple wireless networks, such as CDPD, CDMA, TDMA, GSM, Ardis, ReFLEX, iDEN and Mobitex.
The transaction engine delivers notification and broadcasting features, as well as synchronization, compression, caching, security, personalization, subscriber management and advertising functions.
Finally, the transcoding engine supports various publishing languages like WAP, HTML, XML and PQA.
JP Systems will operate the SureWave platform through its wireless application service provider business, as well as license it to enterprise customers looking to add the functionality in-house.
As JP Systems’ new flagship product, the SureWave platform marks a shift in focus for the company to further support its wireless ASP model. InfoBeam primarily is a wireless portal site, which carriers offer to their subscribers as InfoBeam.net. It consists of various channels of Internet-based content, which InfoBeam optimizes for transmission over all wireless network types. So InfoBeam is more of a consumer-oriented play.
SureWave, in contrast, is a product branded only to carriers, wireless ASPs and enterprise customers, which then re-brand the services as their own. InfoBeam will remain a function of the overall SureWave platform.
In conjunction with the new server, JP Systems introduced a client-side browser supporting both WAP and PQA for handheld computers and personal digital assistants. This means devices loaded with software supporting a wireless access solution may access any WAP or PQA site.
Now, wirelessly enabled Palm V, Palm III and Handspring Visor devices may access these applications over any airlink standard, whereas previously only the Palm VII could interact with PQA-enabled sites over the BellSouth Wireless Data network.
This is because the Palm VII device connects the Palm.net PQA server, which supports only the BSWD network. The PQA server then connects to the many content sites supporting the standard. The JP Systems solution connects to those same sites via the SureWave platform, which in turn supports any airlink standard.
The OmniSky solution for the Palm V, Visor and, soon, Pocket PC devices use AT&T Wireless Services Inc.’s CDPD network, and as such were unable to directly access the Palm.net server, using OmniSky’s channel solution instead.
The WAP software has been upgraded with additional security features from Certicom Corp., thereby eliminating the security gap present in the current WAP transmission process. JP Systems licensed Certicom’s Wireless Transport Layer Security Plus technology to close that hole and embedded Certicom’s MobileTrust Certificate authority root certificate in the overall SureWave platform for public key infrastructure support.
JP Systems said it has partnered with Novatel Wireless to bundle the new browser software into all upcoming Minstrel CDPD modems for various PDA devices. The company’s carrier partners, such as SkyTel Communications Corp., will promote the software to customers, who must download it from JP Systems’ Web site to use.
