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We set up all five systems in our Syracuse University Real-World Labs®. In addition to the mobile management servers, we set up a Microsoft SQL Server 7.0 and a Microsoft Exchange Server 2000. The platforms used SQL Server to store logs and other data; the Exchange Server became the groupware mail server for the PIM sync platforms. For our clients, we used four Dell Computer Corp. Latitude laptops, three Handspring Visors, two Casio Cassiopeias and one Palm m505. The client devices communicated with the server via IEEE 802.11b wireless network cards.

All five platforms take advantage of a client/server architecture. The server communicates with both the client devices and the back-end servers. Clients are equipped with applications for initiating communications manually or automatically. The client -- usually a small executable -- must be installed on each mobile device. Some vendors are trying to eliminate this process by including their client software in mobile-device offerings. You may soon purchase a Palm or Windows CE device that already has mobile-device-management software installed.

The server manages client connections and executes tasks configured by the systems administrator. Tasks are typically run in a scheduled fashion -- for example, "Perform inventory on all Palm devices upon every third connection." Across all platforms, the servers typically communicate with a SQL database server to store log information.

On the PIM sync platforms, the server also communicates with groupware servers and DBMSes (database management systems). Microsoft Windows 2000 is required on all the server-side platforms. Each product has a server-based management console that can schedule tasks for clients. The management consoles were all easy to use, with Mobile Automation 2000 standing out as the easiest.

The device-management product developers (Callisto, Mobile Automation and XcelleNet) are all concerned with bandwidth conservation and reliability of connections. Their platforms all use checkpoint restart, byte-level differencing and compression to ensure reliable communications. Checkpoint restart is the ability to resume failed file transfers where they left off before an outage. Byte-level differencing, another communications optimization, allows the contents of a file that has previously been transferred to a client to be updated such that only the changes to the file are transferred, rather than moving the entire file. Also, each product supports its own data-compression mechanisms to further conserve bandwidth.

We tested the products' reliability by disconnecting each client during file transfers. All five resumed the failed connections flawlessly.

Afaria and Mobile Automation 2000 can encrypt communications using the industry-standard SSL (Secure Sockets Layer) protocol. Both of these products provide client/server communication using the HTTP protocol and can be enhanced by using SSL.

Callisto's Orbiter does not have an industry-standard data-encryption mechanism, but Orbiter's proprietary compression scheme protects the client/server communications. Orbiter does not use HTTP as a communication mechanism, which could be the cause of its difficulties in providing encryption.

The PIM sync products also have many common features, such as e-mail, calendar, appointment and memo synchronization. Both XTNDConnect Server and iMobile Suite support data synchronization for ODBC databases, including ERP and CRM systems. Using both systems, we were able to synchronize e-mail and other personal information. Also, we tested simple database applications and were able to synchronize the changes back to the database.

All the products we looked at require a significant investment. Your organization must have Microsoft Exchange, Microsoft SQL Server, NT Domain and Active Directory experts. For the PIM sync servers, strong knowledge of DBMSes also helps. In fact, your Exchange or DBMS administrators are probably better equipped than network administrators or technical support specialists to support a PIM sync server.

Successful deployments often involve many configurations and require software development. These platforms are relatively costly. In our device-management testing, we calculated the cost for a system of 1,000 clients (250 laptops, 375 Palm devices, and 375 WinCE devices) at $92,500, $61,250 and $64,000 for Afaria, Orbiter, and Mobile Automation respectively.

For PIM sync, we calculate the cost for a system with 750 clients (375 Palm devices and 375 WinCE devices) as somewhat more expensive -- $104,250 and $86,250 for iMobile Suite and XTNDConnect.

If your organization would benefit from deploying innovative business applications that can be pushed out to users via mobile devices, a PIM sync solution can be beneficial, though implementation is no simple task. On the other hand, if managing a large number of mobile users is becoming a burden, device management can make things easier, though its cost can be harder to justify, since only the IT organization reaps the benefits directly.