NEW YORK-Dream House Software Inc., Orinda, Calif., expects to begin beta testing in August of its new AnyWhereMobile Internet Service, designed to give subscribers remote access to their personal computer files.
This represents the next phase of evolution from the company’s earlier product, Retriever, which allows PC access from handheld devices using the Palm Inc. operating system. AnyWhereMobile eliminates some of the inconvenience and limitations associated with Retriever.
“Retriever was an intermediate step, effective but a bit clumsy because you needed a hot sync and file conversion,” said Alan Finke, president and co-founder.
“AnyWhereMobile allows dynamic file access and obviates the need for synchronization. You can ask the service to e-mail the files to your (remote) device or to fax them to a number you give it.”
Finke, whose earlier professional experience included development of software used by children, said AnyWhereMobile is designed with the goal of “three clicks for set-up” inside a personal computer.
For $10 a month, subscribers then will be able to search the entire contents of their PC from any Internet-enabled device, including personal digital assistants, laptop computers, mobile handsets, televisions, wireline phones and Internet kiosks. Besides the management of personal information, AnyWhereMobile also will allow remote automation and monitoring of homes and offices.
“We format the content appropriately for each device, a massive task, but we’ve been at this for a good while,” he said.
“The connection takes a few seconds and feels like fast Internet.”
Dream House has sought a patent for its system, which has “a proprietary protocol with strong encryption,” Finke said.
Some applied lessons from another part of his prior experience, in the credit card industry, come into play in AnyWhereMobile, which continuously monitors access at the service provision and subscriber PC sites.
“If it sees too many hits, it knows to shut down the connection point and alert the subscriber,” he said.
Furthermore, Finke noted that the son of Eric Buchbinder, the other Dream House founder, is a member of a hacker group called Cult of the Dead Cow.
“We have worked closely with the hacker community, and they say this is a tough system to break into. We also are working with the Department of Commerce on encryption,” he said.
Dream House plans to market AnyWhereMobile directly, through its channel partners, which include OmniSky Inc. The company is a Palm Platinum partner and sees joint marketing opportunities in this relationship. Finke said Dream House also is approaching Internet portals about sales of the service, and it has in place an arrangement with Friendly Way, a company in Germany that provides Internet kiosks in public venues.
Companies like Aether Systems Inc., which is a part owner of OmniSky, as well as Microsoft Corp. and Oracle Corp. are engaged “in a battle of giants” to provide services like AnyWhereMobile to large corporations, Finke said.
“We know we won’t win that one, but for us, the next step is the small office, home office market,” he added.
The summer beta launch of AnyWhereMobile will be a friendly user trial involving about 200 people. In October, Dream House plans a soft launch involving about 5,000 users. The goal is for a full-scale commercial debut during the first quarter of next year.
