On the eve of its Open World conference, Oracle Corp has announced that the mobile version of its 8i database is available for Palm, Windows CE and EPOC devices. The company claims that with 8i Lite it is offering the first 100% centrally managed platform for mobile devices, over rivals such as Sybase Inc. Oracle has signed on Symbol Technologies Inc, a developer of Palm-style handheld scanning devices to extend the reach of its mobile database efforts, as well as Autodesk Inc, which has a mapping application for the platform.
The 8i Lite client for the various operating systems operating systems takes up between 50Kb to 80Kb of memory, depending on the configuration. The full configuration consists of the object- orientated database, SQL database and iConnect bi-directional synchronization software. Jacob Christfort, director of solutions development in the mobile and embedded product division at Oracle, said that typically the full 80Kb configuration would be used, but the smaller footprint 50Kb was being used some embedded applications.
As well as enabling the Lite client to transfer data to and from an 8i database held on the server side, and make changes in either database, Oracle’s Web-to-Go management tool allows applications developed using, for instance, the PalmOS to be held on the server side and updated when the Palm application on the mobile device is synchronized with the server. The mobile devices can use various transport mechanisms to connect to the server. Oracle supports Palm’s Hot Sync networking, TCP/IP dial-up connection and proprietary methods from Riverbed Technologies and Aether Technologies.
Several other companies in the mobile device market, including AvantGo Inc, Puma Technology Inc and Aether Technologies are collaborating to establish a standard application programming interface – dubbed the Mobile Application Link (MAL) – for synchronizing apps on mobile devices with back-end enterprise software for Palm and CE devices.
