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The killer application for mobile devices is not a software package; it's a concept -- ultimate freedom. Wouldn't it be nice to have access to information no matter what device you have on hand? To make this possible, you need to synchronize the data on mobile devices with existing enterprise data stores. And not only do you need to view your data from wherever you may roam, you need to make changes to it and keep it up to date.

Many products support data synchronization and let users access personal information, e-mail and ODBC databases from mobile devices. Of course, each product uses its own protocol. Synchronizing data using various proprietary mechanisms can lead to incompatibility or data corruption.

In mid-2000, Ericsson, IBM, Lotus, Motorola, Nokia, Palm, Psion and Starfish Software started an initiative called SyncML, which will provide a standardized way to synchronize data on any mobile device across any network. With SyncML, laptops, handheld computers, mobile phones, pagers and other mobile platforms will be able to access network applications, uniformly and interoperably. SyncML strives to offer a solution that can be used in various applications and across various networks. The synchronization process involves retrieving information and transmitting local changes back to a network data store.

SyncML has several goals: to function across wired and wireless networks and the existing Internet architecture, to support various transport protocols and network data types, to work with limited computing power on the mobile devices, and to provide the common synchronization present in existing technologies. If successful, SyncML would make way for the proliferation of enhanced mobile computing.

Version 1.0 of SyncML was released on Dec. 7, 2000. Synchrologic and XcelleNet are officially listed as supporters of the SyncML initiative. Extended Systems has also expressed interest. You can read more about SyncML online at www.syncml.org.