Mobileum delivers mobile apps

PLEASANTON, CALIF. - A wireless software start-up has released its first product - off-the-shelf software that lets corporate customers set up and run applications that can be accessed via wireless devices.

Mobileum's software will let customers host a scalable, wireless application infrastructure inside their firewalls. The software, which runs on top of a Java application server such as BEA Systems' WebLogic, can work with any of the existing wireless nets, and with an array of client handheld devices.

Mobileum's software is based on the Java 2 Enterprise Edition specification and consists of a server program that provides a range of basic functions, as well as a set of advanced services that add session management, security, message management and other features.

The company, launched in March, recently raised $45 million in venture funding from investors such as BEA Systems and Tibco Software.

Mobileum's software is an alternative to simpler transcoding products, as well as to costly, custom-designed systems, says Mitch Bishop, the company's vice president of marketing. Transcoders translate between one format and another, for example, from HTML to WML, a format used by cell phones equipped with Wireless Application Protocol (WAP) browsers.

The Mobileum software supplies interfaces to carrier-based WAP or Simple Message System servers, or to customer gateways such as Palm.net. It also includes tools for building mobile applications, such as navigation models for applications that would display on a cell phone or PDA. In addition, it has a runtime environment that executes the translation of an XML document into a format that can be read a by Nokia WAP phone or Palm V handheld, for example.

Requests from client devices pass through the Web server and application server to the Mobileum server, and then to the various advanced services modules as needed. Mobileum's SmartSession, for example, manages each application session that lets a user restart failed connections. SmartProfile is a cookie management system that lets end users activate cookies on a site-by-site basis. SmartWallet uses these cookies to automatically fill in Web forms with personal information such as name, address and credit card data.

Pricing is $125,000 per server and optional modules are $95,000 each. SmartProfile and SmartSession are available now.

Mobileum: www.mobileum.com