5. Middleware
The popularity of handheld computers with wireless connectivity continues to grow, but the effectiveness of these devices in the enterprise space will remain limited until companies implement middleware technologies that enable these devices to access critical data and applications on the corporate network.
Currently, many corporate users of handheld devices are forced to access e-mail via messy forwarding schemes and are able to wirelessly access little more than sports scores and daily horoscopes.
With an eye toward brightening the prospects of handheld computers in the enterprise, Palm, Microsoft, and a host of software vendors have begun to offer middleware products that sit between end-user devices and the servers that store the data that mobile workers must access.
It's important that the middleware products that companies deploy include support for multiple mobile device platforms. Palm is the current leader in market share, but Windows CE-based devices are maturing nicely, and upcoming wireless-enabled devices from Symbian figure to make a large impact once they reach the market next year.
Although many of these middleware products comply with Internet standards to ensure that they work with more than one vendor's mobile device, the best products will also include client-side technology on the handheld to handle offline use. This is a vital feature because with mobile devices, the connection to the Net can be unreliable.
These middleware products will generally be available both in self- hosted and application service provider models; in the coming year, enterprise IT managers should determine which model works for their company, based on available IT resources.
