One week after its chairman publicly hailed the Mobidem network (CI No 1,861), Ottawa, Ontario-based Simware Inc has announced a co-marketing agreement with rival Ardis to put its software on that network. The Mobidem is a handheld radio modem aimed at the mass market by Ericsson-GE Mobile Communications Inc, which works on Mobitex networks, as operated by RAM Mobile Data in the UK and US. Motorola Inc offers a similar unit for Ardis, a joint-venture between itself and IBM Corp, but Ardis is aimed at niche markets. Simware makes software that links remote computers to IBM mainframes using 3270 emulation and it recently announced its SplitSecond software package for the Mobidem. The new agreement will enable laptop computers on the Ardis network to upload and download data to mainframes, cutting a lot of the data from each screen to make file transfers more efficient. It is the fifth such wireless co-marketing agreement for Simware, and comes as Ardis announced it will bring its network to Canada in competition with Cantel Ltd, an existing Mobitex network supplier there. The new Ardis Canada will be 60% owned by BCE Mobile, a division of BCE Inc, Bell Canada’s parent company, and 40% owned by Motorola.
