News Briefs

Toronto-based Ceecom Inc. has devised a wireless network solution intended to help organizations make their enterprise applications and email systems mobile. Introduced this spring, Wavehop enables PDA (Palm OS, Pocket PC 2002, LINUX, Symbian) devices to interact in real-time with the corporate host server. Wavehop’s service is delivered via network centres that connect both the wireless data network and the Internet. Applications are driven on the computing power of the server’s engine, rather than the limited processing power of a hand-held computing device. Having no data residing on the PDA eliminates the need for synchronization or loss of data. Pre-packaged applications can be tailored and implemented in weeks. Wavehop uses 128-bit encryption for security; compression and acceleration technologies for speed. Wavehop claims its solutions are low-cost and charges on a per PDA/per month ASP usage model. Wavehop solutions are currently available in Canada and the U.S. and will be available in late 2002 in Europe, Asia, and Latin America. “The financial sector is a very information intensive industry, it’s also an industry that requires a great deal of customer care,” noted Ray Talwar, Wavehop president. “This translates into a need for instant information and access to an organization’s enterprise application. Today it’s possible to access client information from corporate databases as well as look up information on stocks and mutual funds using a low-cost wireless PDA or laptop. Agents can now enter activity reports, download and print relevant forms, agreements or documents right at a customer locations all at high speed.”