Sure wave solutions
10 Nov 2004
Can you prevent data or personal emails and SMSs from your lost mobile handset or personal digital assistant being misused? Yes, now you can. Texas-based enterprise mobility solutions developer, JP Mobile Inc, has made it possible for you to prevent unauthorised access to your data through the remote activation of data security software on your lost device.
This can be done by using SureWave, a server-based software solution for secure access to enterprise business applications, e-mail and the whole range of personal information management data on handheld devices.
In India since 1966, JP Mobile's Hyderabad-based Indian subsidiary, JP Mobile India, has emerged a leading provider of enterprise mobility software, providing comprehensive data management software for handheld devices. The 60 engineers at the Hyderabad centre handle most of J P Mobile's software development — over 70 per cent, and 95 per cent of all testing.
The Indian company has been building products for the global telecom industry focusing on the US and Asia Pacific markets, particularly New Zealand, which it entered in 2001. Last year it set in motion its plans to expand its reach to other Asia Pacific markets through a dealer network, signing dealerships with leading IT companies in the region.
Captain P Raghu Kumar, managing director, JP Mobile India, is reasonably upbeat about the Indian market. The reasons have a lot to do with the growth of the telecom industry. According to him, "Not only is the Indian telecom industry growing at a robust 30 per cent per annum, the demand for data through mobiles is rising exponentially.
"Telecom providers at present earn nearly seven per cent of their revenues from data services. and their forecast is that by 2008 their revenue from data will be of the order of 20.5 per cent. Revenue and growth among telcos (telecom companies) is likely to be huge," he said.
He adds that, "Not only is data through mobile increasing exponentially there's also a huge demand for software solution providers to ease operations. In an attempt to simplify mobile communications, we are set to launch an extended version of our SureWave enterprise server by the fourth quarter of the current fiscal. The present version of SureWave 4.1 has been enhanced based on the feedback from its customers across the world."
On JP Mobile's role in the current telecom market, he says, "Our solutions help companies become more productive and generate revenue faster. We give companies the flexibility to get the data they need anywhere, anytime. We also significantly reduce the total costs of ownership of handheld devices. We see an enhanced role for ourselves innovate solutions or products for the domestic market as well as the global market."
Kumar says the SureWave enterprise server is an effective tool for integrating Notes / Domino features with a variety of mobile devices. It allows organisations to gain control over handheld devices and securely extend corporate data. It is the industry's only software that can simultaneously support Pocket PC, Palm, Symbian and RIM handhelds.
The increasing trend of working while on the move means that the mobile market is poised to expand faster. "As more and more employees work on the field, the demand for data and data security will increase. Quoting a study conducted by the US Labour Department, he says, "By the end of 2004, the number of people working while on the move will comprise 40 per cent of the total US work force."
The company is all set to launch the extended version of its SureWave Enterprise Server by the fourth quarter of the current financial year. According to Kumar, "The present version of SureWave has been enhanced based on the feedback from our customers across the world. We are in the final stages of testing and will probably make an announcement within a couple of months," he said.
According to him the new version SureWave 5.0 would address the problem of blocking of SMS-based notification by operators with IP Push notification mechanism through GPRS enabled networks. With increasing number of users and devices, security of data is a major concern." All these features will be bundled the latest version of SureWave 5.0, due for launch in India by the end of this year.
Kumar says the company has strengthened the security measures in this yet-to-be launched version by adding remote commands and additional parameters to check the authenticity of the user. Also, the new version is provided with over-the-air download installation that helps users to download the updates directly from the server rather than downloading using desktops.
The company recently tied up with Airtel, a subsidiary of Bharti Cellular, India's leading wireless service provider, to offer the latter's business customers a suite of mobile office solutions including Airtel's Mail Live! service, a wireless push email / PIM solution powered by JP Mobile's SureWave Mobile Office.
Airtel's Mail Live! enables the telecom company's enterprise customers to extend corporate email messages and rich attachments to their mobile professionals' cellular handsets, smartphones or wireless personal digital assistants (PDA). Mail Live! also offers a full complement of personal information management (PIM) applications, including a contacts database, calendaring, task management and others.
According to Anirudh Gupta, general manager alliances and partners, JP Mobile, "The SureWave Mobile Office has been deployed by more than 250 leading companies." According to Kumar, his company's Mobile Office is a fully open, device-, platform- and network-agnostic solution that gives enterprises the freedom to do business with the carrier of their choice while allowing their mobile professionals to use the popular, familiar devices they want.
It can also integrate with groupware platforms such as Microsoft Exchange, Novell GroupWise and Lotus Domino, among others. He said bi-directional synchronisation of data in both real-time and offline modes ensures productivity and efficiency gains and assures that as a 100 per cent 'behind-the-fire-wall' solution, and provides ironclad security. In addition, its 'no-touch' provisioning via wireless download and easy-to-use web-based administration console allow for fast, hassle-free deployment and efficient, cost-effective centralised management.
According to Kumar, SureWave 5.0 also incorporates extensive security features in handhelds like 'bit-wiping bomb', data encryption and decryption-on-demand, data transfer disabling and stealth mode operations, among others that can be activated remotely in case of loss of equipment to prevent unauthorised use of data.
The company is looking at the ASP model for pushing the new version of the mobile platform with a per-user charge to companies wanting to use it.
According to Gupta, apart from telecom companies, "JP Mobile is also talking to various internet service providers (ISPs), for deploying the mobile enterprise applications software for sdmall and medium enterprises in the country."
JP Mobile has announced the availability of reliable enterprise mobility applications to Windows mobile-based Smartphone market with Microsoft certification of its SureWave enterprise server.
Company officials say JP Mobile is the first provider in this area to receive Microsoft's certification "which helped speed up the time from development to deployment and provided differentiation in the market for our carrier customers and partners."
JP Mobile Inc has partnered with five telecoms carriers and three distributors apart from ASPs in the US, JP Mobile India so far has partnered only with Airtel. Kumar says that the Indian subsidiary expects revenues of $2 million by 2006. The Texas-based parent will post revenues of $9 million this year, he added.